In medicine and psychology, it is well known that stress causes physiological changes in the body whereas chronic stress often may lead to psychosomatic disorders. Whether these changes also affect intraocular pressure (IOP) in the eye has yet to be demonstrated. In this study, we examined the relationship between stress and IOP in 72 ethnic Chinese adults. The perception of stress symptoms (both physiological and psychological) was assessed by a questionnaire. Results show that TOP correlated moderately with physiological stress symptoms but not with other stress measures. We examined possible mechanisms by which this could happen and discussed the theoretical and practical implications of the findings.

Key words: stress, intraocular pressure, glaucoma, psychosomatic disorder