Consuming one cup of caffeinated coffee statistically increases IOP and ocular perfusion pressure (OPP) in primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) patients. patients, claims a paper in Eye.

Dr A.Z. Jiwani et al., Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, Boston, Massachusetts, USA, conducted a prospective, double-masked, crossover, randomized controlled trial on 106 subjects. Of these participants, 22 had high-tension POAG, 18 had normal tension, 21 POAG suspects and 25 healthy volunteers.

Each subject was given either 237 mL of caffeinated coffee or decaffeinated coffee at the first visit and the alternate beverage on the second visit. The outcome measures included blood pressure (BP) and pascal dynamic contour tonometer measurements of IOP ocular pulse amplitude (OPA) and heart rate. These were all measured before and at 60 and 90 minutes after coffee ingestion.

The results demonstrated no significant difference in baseline IOP, OPP and OPA between caffeinated and decaffeinated drinks. Mean mmHg changes in IOP, OPP and OPA were 0.99, 1.57 and 0.23, at 60 minutes, respectively. The results at 90 minutes for IOP, OPP and OPA were and 1.06, 1.26 and 0.18, respectively.

This suggests that consuming one cup of caffeinated coffee statistically increases but is not likely to clinically impact IOP and OPP in POAG cases.

The abstract can be found here .