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Exercise May Reduce Risk of Glaucoma | |
By IRA DREYFUSS WASHINGTON - From a stationary bike in an exercise room at his neighborhood aquatics center, Dick Bocci can keep an eye on the people in the pool. Watching the people is not important to Bocci; he simply wants to continue to see. The 54-year-old McMinnville, Ore., man says regular exercise has reduced pressure inside his eye - and thus the risk that he will contract glaucoma. There are doubters - among them, glaucoma sufferer Kirby Puckett. The disease ended his major league baseball career. But Bocci believes in the value of exercise. "I've been doing it since 1987," he said. "I swear by it." Bocci rides 30 minutes, three times a week, at a moderately strenuous 142 heartbeats a minute as part of a program set up by his doctor, Michael S. Passo, an assistant professor of ophthalmology at Oregon Health Sciences University in nearby Portland. Passo found that regular aerobic exercise seems to reduce the elevated pressure that is associated with the vision-destroying eye condition. His research was prepared for presentation at the American Academy of Ophthalmology's annual meeting in Chicago Oct. 27-31. Glaucoma can develop when the fluid that supplies nutrients to the interior of the eye builds up, putting higher pressure on the optic nerve. Bocci was considered at risk of developing glaucoma because he had a pressure reading of 23, when it should have been no more than 20. Since he has been exercising, he has been maintaining a pressure of 18-19, he said. Aerobic exercise, including biking and walking, can help patients with glaucoma, those who are showing tendencies to develop glaucoma and those who are simply predisposed by genetics to be at risk, Passo said. How exercise helps is not known, but the effect seems to be similar to the lowering of blood pressure that also results from regular aerobics. Passo found reductions in eye pressure of 10-20 percent among people who stayed at least three months in a regular exercise program. Those results are comparable to the benefits of medication, and the payoff is even greater among exercisers who also take their eye drops, he said. "If they are glaucoma patients, I start them on medication and I tell them, 'If you do three months of this structured exercise program, I will probably give you a trial off medication," Passo said. However, the number of people he studied is relatively small, and different people may have different responses to exercise as a treatment, Passo said. Also, he said, although exercise can fight glaucoma, it is no cure. Other experts are more cautious. Although exercise is good for many conditions, Passo has not proved it fights glaucoma, they said. "It does make intuitive sense," said Dr. Richard P. Mills, chairman of ophthalmology at the University of Washington, Seattle, and past president of the ophthalmologists' organization. But the data have not been published in a peer-reviewed journal where other doctors could closely examine them, he said. "I don't think the standards of proof have been met yet," he added. And there is more to glaucoma than simply high pressure in the eye, said Dr. Thom Zimmerman, chairman of ophthalmology at the University of Louisville. Blacks, including Puckett, are among those with higher risks. The soft-spoken, hard-hitting Minnesota Twins outfielder retired from baseball July 12 because glaucoma destroyed the sight in his right eye. "It completely caught me by surprise," Puckett said. "I've been in a perfect form of health. I run more than most people walk." Although he is a living argument against exercise to ward off glaucoma, exercise might work for other people, Puckett said. Puckett, who takes medication to ward off further loss of sight, is a spokesman for the "Don't Be Blindsided" drive to encourage regular eye examinations. A survey sponsored by the Pharmacia & Upjohn drug company, which is sponsoring the campaign, found that only one quarter of those most at risk were aware of their risk. Glaucoma is painless and usually has no symptoms until sight deteriorates. "It doesn't give you any signals," Puckett said. "You can't tell." Copyright 1996 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. | |