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PURPOSE: To evaluate the long-term reproducibility of diurnal intraocular pressure (IOP) patterns in patients with primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG). DESIGN: Database study. PARTICIPANTS: Ninety-two patients with POAG. METHODS: We reviewed the records of patients with POAG who underwent 4 diurnal IOP curve measurements 6 months apart with Goldmann applanation tonometry recorded in the sitting position at 9 am, 10 am, 11 am, noon, 2 pm, 3 pm, 4 pm, and 5 pm. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Intervisit agreement of IOP by time point and of diurnal IOP curve parameters (mean, standard deviation, range, maximum, maximum hour, minimum, and minimum hour) was assessed using intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs). Analyses were performed in all eyes and separately in eyes with and without hypotensive medications, and in eyes naïve and non-naïve of filtering surgery. RESULTS: Between-visit agreement of IOP values at each time point was generally poor, with ICCs ranging from 0.26 to 0.77 in all patients (1 of 8 time points with ICC >0.75), from -0.07 to 0.60 in patients without hypotensive medications (zero time points with ICC >0.75), from 0.29 to 0.80 in patients with hypotensive medications (3 time points with ICCs >0.75), from 0.21 to 0.68 in filtering surgery-naïve patients (zero time points with ICC >0.75), and from 0.21 to 0.87 in patients with previous filtering surgeries (5 time points with ICCs >0.75). The predictive value of the first diurnal IOP curve to estimate the risk of IOP fluctuations during the 3 subsequent curves was limited (only 6.4% of the patients with an IOP range ≥30% of the mean IOP on the first curve presented similar fluctuations on the 3 subsequent curves; 77.1% of the patients who did not have an IOP range ≥30% of the mean IOP on the first curve had an IOP range ≥30% of the mean IOP on at least 1 of the 3 subsequent curves). CONCLUSIONS: Patients with POAG do not manifest a reproducible diurnal IOP pattern from month to month. A single diurnal IOP curve in patients with POAG poorly characterizes IOP fluctuations and has limited value in clinical practice.
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6.1.2 Fluctuation, circadian rhythms (Part of: 6 Clinical examination methods > 6.1 Intraocular pressure measurement; factors affecting IOP)