Intraocular and blood pressure monitoring of the spiritual orchestra musicians

Objective: to reveal glaucomatous changes and to analyze the intraocular and blood pressure dynamics of a spiritual orchestra musicians during playing their instruments. Material and Methods. Under supervision were 80 musicians aged from 20 to 76 years, with a professional experience from 5 to 50 years. The following examinations were carried out: visometry, kinetic perimetry, ophthalmoscopy of the fundus, Maklakov tonometry, blood pressure measurement (BP) and non-contact transpalpebral tonometry (Po). The dynamics of pressure was evaluated while playing the wind instruments. Results. In the examined group of cases, glaucoma was not identified. During the first minute of playing the IOP (Po) of all musicians was observed to rise to an average of 29.25±0.53 mm Hg with a gradual decrease in five minutes to 24.12±0.51 and full normalization to 15.57±0.53mm Hg after 15 minutes. Arterial BP rose slightly and came back to normal 5 minutes after the end of playing. Conclusion. During the first minutes of playing the wind instruments, the musicians have an increase of BP and IOP due to the activation of the sympathoadrenal system, which leads to the launch of a cascade of adaptive changes, and as a result to full normalization. Such systematic occupational loads may be a contributing factor in the development of glaucoma, which necessitates regular preventive examinations by an ophthalmologist.