Walking More Than 10,000 Steps Per Day May Be Associated With Increased Optic Disc Vessel Density in Patients With Primary Open Angle Glaucoma.

Abstract

Prcis: Patients with primary open angle glaucoma (POAG) with average daily steps (ADS) >10,000 exhibited higher papillary vessel density (VD) compared with those with ADS ≤10,000, implying that increasing daily steps, particularly exceeding 10,000 steps, may potentially enhance ocular blood flow.

Purpose: The study aimed to investigate the relationship between ADS and optic disc angioflow VD in patients with POAG.

Materials and methods: This is a cross-sectional study. Forty-one patients with POAG (74 eyes) were recruited from the Wenzhou Glaucoma Progression Study (WGPS) and were divided into 2 groups based on international physical activity guidelines: 21 subjects (38 eyes) in the ADS >10,000 group and 20 patients (36 eyes) in the ADS ≤10,000 group. ADS was monitored using a waist-worn accelerometer (ActiGraph wGT3x-BT) for 7 consecutive days, while optic disc VD was assessed by the optical coherence tomography angiography.

Results: Papillary VD was significantly denser in the ADS >10,000 group (ADS:12782±2925) compared with that of the ADS ≤10,000 group (ADS:7418±1543) for both whole image-all VD (WIAVD) and whole image-capillary VD (WICVD) ( P =0.026, 0.032, respectively). Univariate analysis indicates that WIAVD was denser in the ADS >10,000 group versus the ADS ≤10,000 group ( P =0.013) and that WICVD was denser in the ADS >10,000 group versus the ADS ≤10,000 group ( P =0.019). Furthermore, every 1 μm thicker in retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness was associated with a 0.24 denser in WIAVD ( P <0.0001) and a 0.23 denser in WICVD ( P <0.0001). Each 1-dB improvement in mean deviation (MD) was linked to a 0.75 increase in WIAVD ( P <0.0001) and a 0.83 increase in WICVD ( P <0.0001). In addition, a 1 mm Hg increase in intraocular pressure was associated with a 0.5 decrease in WIAVD ( P <0.009) in univariate analysis and a 0.31 decrease in multivariate analysis ( P <0.012). Multivariate analysis revealed that patients with ADS >10,000 had 1.75 higher WIAVD and 1.64 higher WICVD compared with those with ADS ≤10,000 after adjusting for other risk factors.

Conclusion: Patients with POAG with ADS >10,000 exhibited higher papillary VD compared with those with ADS ≤10,000, implying that increasing daily steps, particularly exceeding 10,000 steps, may potentially enhance ocular blood flow.