CHANGES OF COLOR-VISION IN OCULAR HYPERTENSION

Fifty-six ocular hypertension (OHT) patients were examined for 2-3 day s in the Eye Clinic of Kuopio University Hospital. No glaucomatous cha nges were found. Twenty-seven of them were found to have several risk factors for developing glaucoma and medication was started. Twenty-nin e of the patients did not show risk factors and had no medication. Col or vision was examined with the Farnsworth-Munsell 100 (FM 100) hue te st and Besancon anomalometer, later Color Vision Meter 712 at the begi nning of the study and 3 years later. None of the 56 patients showed a ny glaucomatous changes after 3 years of the study. In the treatment g roup, the FM 100 test showed significantly (paired t-test, p = 0.004) improved error scores after 3 years. In the nontreatment group, 19 pat ients did not develop risk factors; they had no significant changes in the color vision results. In 10 patients of the non-treatment group, risk factors had developed with elevated intraocular pressure and medi cation was started for them after 3 years. Their color vision results in the blue anomalous quotient (AQ) of the anomalometer had significan tly shifted to the blue part of the equation (paired t-test, p = 0.04) . The other color vision results had not changed significantly. The si gnificantly improved FM 100 scores in the treatment group could mean, that the treatment has a beneficial effect for the OHT eyes at risk fo r developing glaucoma. The significant shifting of the blue AQ towards the blue part of the equation in the eyes with elevated pressure afte r 3 years could mean that minimal change in blue color vision measured by a blue anomaloscope might be a risk factor for glaucoma developmen t.