Effect of a maximal treadmill test on intraocular pressure and ocular perfusion pressure: The mediating role of fitness level

• Published in: European journal of ophthalmology Vol. 30; no. 3; p. 506
• Main Authors: Vera, Jesús, Jiménez, Raimundo, Redondo, Beatríz, García-Ramos, Amador, Cárdenas, David
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 01.05.2020
• Subjects: Adult; Blood Pressure - physiology; Cardiorespiratory Fitness - physiology; Exercise Test; Humans; Intraocular Pressure - physiology; Male; Middle Aged; Military Personnel; Pilots; Spain; Tonometry, Ocular; Spain; cardiorespiratory fitness; rebound tonometry; Glaucoma management; ocular health; ocular physiology
• ISSN: 1724-6016
• DOI: 10.1177/1120672119832840

We compared the impact of a maximal treadmill test on intraocular pressure and ocular perfusion pressure between trained and untrained individuals. Based on the maximal aerobic capacity (relative VO max), 31 military helicopter pilots were divided into groups of trained (n = 16; VO max = 57.06 ± 1.66) and untrained (n = 15; VO max = 43.42 ± 1.19) individuals. Intraocular pressure and blood pressure were collected before effort, just after volitional exhaustion and after 5 and 15 min of recovery. The maximal treadmill test induced significant changes on intraocular pressure (p < 0.001, η = 0.52) and ocular perfusion pressure (p < 0.001, η = 0.60). Intraocular pressure and ocular perfusion pressure increased just after volitional exhaustion (effect size = 0.88 and 1.59, respectively), and these values returned to baseline levels after 5 (effect size = 0.87 and 1.26, respectively) and 15 (effect size = 1.23 and 1.91, respectively) min of recovery. The untrained group exhibited higher intraocular pressure and ocular perfusion pressure values in comparison with the trained group just after volitional exhaustion (effect size = 1.43 and 0.11 for intraocular pressure and effect size = 2.81 and 0.96 for ocular perfusion pressure). Five minutes of recovery was insufficient to reach baseline intraocular pressure and ocular perfusion pressure values only for the untrained group (effect size = 0.91 and 0.72, respectively). Our findings reveal that fitness level modulates the intraocular pressure and ocular perfusion pressure responses to a maximal treadmill test, being high fitness levels desirable in order to attenuate the impact of maximal efforts on these indices. These outcomes may be of clinical relevance for the management of glaucoma patients or those at risk, although future studies are needed to test these results in a clinical population.