Evaluation of Asymptomatic Cardiac Disease in Patients with Ocular Pseudoexfoliation

Purpose: To evaluate asymptomatic cardiac disease in patients with ocular pseudoexfoliation. Patients and Method: Forty-two patients with ocular pseudoexfoliation (with or without glaucoma) and 40 patients without pseudoexfoliation, who had no positive signs or symptoms of cardiac diseases, were enrolled in this study. For each participant a standard treadmill exercise test, as a noninvasive and reliable method for detecting ischemic heart disease, was performed under supervision of a cardiologist. The prevalence of ischemic heart disease was compared in the case and control groups. Results: The mean age of participants was 68.38 ± 8.10 years in the case and 62.45 ± 8.40 years in the control group. There was no statistically significant difference between the two groups in terms of diabetes mellitus, hyperlipidemia, smoking, and family history of ischemic heart disease. Twenty patients (47.6 %) with pseudoexfoliation and 9 participants (22.5 %) without pseudoexfoliation had hypertension (P = 0.02). There were 10 (23.8 %) positive exercise tests in the pseudoexfoliation group and 8 (20 %) positive exercise tests in participants without pseudoexfoliation (P = 0.78). Conclusion: Based on our findings ocular pseudoexfoliation was not associated with increased risk of asymptomatic ischemic heart disease as evaluated by the treadmill exercise test.