title: Intraocular pressure fluctuations in professional brass and woodwind musicians during common playing conditions.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  We investigated the effects on intraocular pressure (IOP) and blood pressure (BP) of playing brass and woodwind instruments by monitoring IOP and BP in a representative group of professional musicians under a variety of common playing conditions.
  
  
  METHODS
  IOP and BP measurements were recorded from 37 brass and 15 woodwind instrument players, before and after playing tones of low, middle and high frequency. We also measured IOP and BP before and during playing common exercises of 10 minutes duration, as well as after playing a sustained high-pitched tone, to test for changes in IOP under conditions of maximum effort.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Playing tones on brass and woodwind instruments causes a temporary elevation in IOP and BP, depending on the tone frequency: brass instrument players showed a significant elevation after playing high and middle frequency tones (p < 0.0001) whereas woodwind instrument players showed a significant increase only for high frequencies (e.g., oboe, 17 ± 2.9 mm Hg to 21 ± 4.4 mm Hg; p = 0.017). Playing a typical exercise of 10 minutes temporarily increased IOP in both groups of musicians. Finally, playing a sustained tone of high pitch caused a significant elevation in IOP in brass instrument players only (16.6 ± 3.5 mm Hg to 23.3 ± 8.9 mm Hg; p < 0.0001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The temporary and sometimes dramatic elevations and fluctuations in IOP observed in this study, coupled with daily exposure to instrument play, puts professional wind instrument players at increased risk of developing glaucoma. Consequently, these musicians should be monitored for signs of glaucoma, especially those with co-existing risk factors.
authors.affiliation: Department of Vision Sciences, Glasgow Caledonian University, Cowcaddens Road, G4 0BA, Glasgow, Scotland. Gunnar.Schmidtmann@gcal.ac.uk
authors.forename: Gunnar
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Schmidtmann
authors.forename: Susanne
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Jahnke
authors.forename: Egbert J
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Seidel
authors.forename: Wolfgang
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Sickenberger
authors.forename: Hans-Jürgen
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Grein
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000502:physiology; D015924:Blood Pressure Monitors; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D007429:Intraocular Pressure / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009146:Music; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D016273:Occupational Exposure / Q000009:adverse effects*; D009798:Ocular Hypertension / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012307:Risk Factors; D014065:Tonometry, Ocular; D055815:Young Adult