Diurnal variation of intraocular pressure in normal and ocular hypertensive subjects of China.

This study evaluated the distribution of Intraocular pressure (IOP) levels in 67 normal and 59 ocular hypertensive (OHT) subjects during the day after placing control on all those factors that can affect IOP. The IOP was measured with the Goldmann applanation tonometer. All the subjects were examined according to standard protocols. Both in the normal and OHT subjects, the peak of mean IOP appeared in the morning when the subjects woke up and the trough of mean IOP occurred between 2 a.m. to 4 a.m. The mean diurnal variation were (mean +/- sem) 2.9 +/- 0.7 and 3.5 +/- 0.7 mmHg in the normal and in OHT subjects, respectively. Ninety-four percent of the normal subjects and sixty-eight percent of the OHT subjects exhibited a similar diurnal behaviour in both eyes. The IOP variation did not correlate with the variations of blood pressure. The diurnal variation of IOP, found in Chinese, is lower than in other nations. The clinical importance of findings that the peaks of IOP occur in the early morning, raised a serious question as to the necessity of extending the diurnal IOP curves beyond the usual working time (JPMA 46:171, 1996).