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Short-term effects of caffeine intake on anterior chamber angle and intraocular pressure in low caffeine consumers

  • Glaucoma
  • Published:
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Abstract

Background

Acute caffeine consumption causes a transient increase in IOP; however, the mechanisms underlying this phenomenon remain unknown. This study aims to determine the structural changes in cornea and anterior chamber associated with caffeine ingestion.

Methods

Seventeen healthy low caffeine consumers ingested a capsule of caffeine (~ 4 mg/kg) or placebo (300 mg of corn-starch) in a counterbalanced manner. We measured IOP by rebound tonometry and the anterior chamber depth (ACD), anterior chamber volume (ACV), anterior chamber angle (ACA) and central corneal thickness (CCT) with the Pentacam rotating Scheimpflug camera. Subjective feelings of arousal were also obtained. All the dependent variables were obtained before and 30, 60 and 90 min after caffeine/placebo intake.

Results

Caffeine intake caused an acute IOP rise (p = 0.005, η2 = 0.403) and a narrowing ACA (p = 0.028, η2 = 0.266). However, our data did not reveal any effect on CCT, ACD and ACV after caffeine ingestion (p = 0.798, p = 0.346, p = 0.175, respectively). Participants reported greater levels of activation after ingesting caffeine in comparison to placebo (p = 0.037, η2 = 0.245).

Conclusion

The IOP rise associated with caffeine intake may be caused by an ACA reduction, which may add resistance to the outflow of aqueous humour. The current results may be of special relevance for subjects at high risk for glaucoma onset or progression and may help to understand the mechanisms underlying caffeine-induced ocular hypertension.

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Funding

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Optics, Faculty of Sciences, University of Granada, Campus de la Fuentenueva 2, 18001, Granada, Spain

    Beatríz Redondo, Jesús Vera, Rubén Molina & Raimundo Jiménez

Authors
  1. Beatríz Redondo
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  2. Jesús Vera
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  3. Rubén Molina
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  4. Raimundo Jiménez
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jesús Vera.

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Conflict of interest

Beatriz Redondo declares that she has no conflict of interest. Jesus Vera declares that he has no conflict of interest. Ruben Molina declares that he has no conflict of interest. Raimundo Jiménez declares that he has no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the University of Granada Institutional Review Board (IRB approval: 438/CEIH/2017) and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Redondo, B., Vera, J., Molina, R. et al. Short-term effects of caffeine intake on anterior chamber angle and intraocular pressure in low caffeine consumers. Graefes Arch Clin Exp Ophthalmol 258, 613–619 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00417-019-04556-z

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