Intraocular pressure changes in the intensive care unit: The effect of spontaneous respiration, mechanical ventilation, non-invasive CPAP and medical treatments

Abstract

Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate the intraocular pressure (IOP) changes in patients in intensive care unit (ICU) and theparameters that cause these changes.Material and Methods: In total, 304 eyes of 152 patients were examined. IOP and central corneal thickness (CCT) were measured.Age, sex, hospitalization (surgical/non-surgical causes), type of ventilation (spontaneous, intubated, non-invasive continuouspositive airway pressure (CPAP), Glasgow coma scale, use of hypertonic solution and sedation status were evaluated.Results: The mean age was 63.52±21.47 (range: 18–96) years, and the male/female ratio was 73/79. The mean hospitalization timewas 30.91±47.80 (8-297) days, and the mean Glasgow coma scale score was 9.61±4.42. While 33 patients (21.7%) had hypertonicsolution, 28 (18.4%) were sedated. The mean IOP was measured as 13.81±3.58 (6–28) mmHg. In 5 patients, the IOP was more than20 mmHg, and in 14 patients, it was less than 10 mmHg. It was observed that gender and hospitalization diagnosis had no effect onthe IOP change (p=0.97, p=0.814, respectively). When the patients were evaluated according to their respiration types, there was nostatistically significant difference in IOP values between patients with spontaneous respiration and intubated patients (p=0.261), butnon-invasive CPAP patients were significantly different from patients with spontaneous breathing (p=0.035) and intubated patients(p