Comparison of intraocular pressure variability in glaucoma measured by multiple clinicians with those by one clinician

To compare the intraocular pressure (IOP) variability measured by multiple clinicians with those by one clinician. Forty-seven of 227 consecutive patients with glaucoma who had been examined routinely for over 12 months without changes in antiglaucoma medications at Asahikawa Medical University were included. Patients were assigned to one of two groups based on whether they had been followed by multiple or one clinician. One eye of each patient was evaluated. The IOPs obtained using Goldmann applanation tonometry were evaluated. We used the IOP standard deviation (SD, mmHg) and coefficient of variation (CV, %) as parameters of IOP variability. The main outcome measures were the differences in SD and CV between the groups. Multiple linear regression analysis evaluated factors associated with the SD and CV. Twenty-four (51.1 %) patients were assigned to the multiple-clinicians group and 23 (48.9 %) to the single-clinician group. The mean ± SD and CV were higher in the former (1.9 ± 0.5 and 12.0 ± 3.7, respectively) than in the latter group (1.4 ± 0.3 and 10.1 ± 2.5; P = 0.0005 and 0.044, respectively). The number of treating clinicians was the factor most associated with the SD and CV (β = 0.455, P = 0.002 and β = 0.387, P = 0.008, respectively). The variability in the IOP measurements of patients who had been monitored by multiple clinicians was higher than in patients followed by one clinician. The factor most associated with IOP variability was the number of clinicians involved.