The Effectiveness Of Home-Based Circuit Training On Eye Pressure And Eye Nerve Structures In Patients With Glaucoma

July 29, 2026 updated by: Tharani Elumalai, Universiti Sains Malaysia

The Effectiveness Of Home-Based Circuit Training On Intraocular Pressure, Retinal Nerve Fiber Layers And Choroidal Thickness In Patients With Glaucoma

The goal of this randomised control trial is to learn about the effect of home based circuit training on patients with primary glaucoma.

The main questions to answer are:

  1. Is there any difference of intraocular pressure (IOP) in patient with primary glaucoma after 6 weeks and 12 weeks who is performing home-based circuit training compared to patient not performing home-based circuit training?
  2. Is there any difference of retina nerve fibre layer in patient with primary glaucoma after 6 weeks and 12 weeks who is performing home-based circuit training compared to patient not performing home-based circuit training?
  3. Is there any difference of choroidal thickness layer in patient with primary glaucoma after 6 weeks and 12 weeks who is performing home-based circuit training compared to patient not performing home-based circuit training?

Researchers will compare patients with primary glaucoma who are performing home-based circuit training and not performing home-based circuit training to see if any affect to intraocular pressure, retina nerve fibre layer and choroidal thickness.

Study Overview

Status

Not yet recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Glaucoma is the leading cause of irreversible blindness worldwide. According to a study, it is known that East Asia has the highest number of people with glaucoma (25.20 million), followed by South- Central Asia (17.06 million) and South East Asia (6.92 million). The global prevalence of glaucoma especially in people aged 40 to 80 years is estimated to be 3.5%. The most important risk factor for glaucoma is aging. With the growing number and proportion of older population, it is projected that 111.8 million people will have glaucoma in 2040. The degeneration of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) and their axons result in an irreversible loss of vision that has a strong correlation with increasing age. The relationship between exercise and glaucoma is complex as various components of physical activity such as fluctuations in blood pressure, body posture, and Valsalva manoeuvres can influence intraocular pressure (IOP) and ocular perfusion pressure, both of which may play roles in glaucoma pathophysiology.

The investigator would like to evaluate the effect of 12 weeks home-based circuit training on intraocular pressure (IOP), retinal nerve fibre layer thickness (RNFL) and choroidal thickness in patients with primary glaucoma. This is a randomised controlled study involving primary glaucoma patients who are attending ophthalmology clinic at Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia. Evaluation of study sample includes baseline ocular examination, IOP and Optical Coherence Tomography Retinal Nerve Fibre Layer (OCT RNFL) and sub foveal choroidal thickness. Subjects who fulfil the inclusion and exclusion criteria for the study will be selected.

Patients in Group A will perform home-based circuit training for 12 weeks while other Group B (control group) will not perform home-based circuit training. IOP, OCT RNFL and choroidal thickness measurement will be taken at baseline, 6 weeks and 12 weeks post recruitment of subjects. All patients will be given exercise diary to note down their exercise adherence.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

60

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Study Locations

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Age ≥ 18 - 70 years old
  • Known case of POAG, PACG, JOAG, NTG
  • Phakic without visually significant cataract
  • Pseudophakic for more than 3 months prior to recruitment
  • Achieved target IOP
  • Physically not performing routine exercises

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Bilateral eye visual acuity of less than 6/60
  • Bilateral eye visual field defect of less than 10 degrees from fixation
  • Patient with media opacities that affect the reliability of OCT measurements such as cornea opacity, dense cataract with Lens opacification classification system (LOCS III) of more than grade 2, vitreous haemorrhage
  • Patient who underwent intraocular surgery (other than uncomplicated cataract surgery), including anti-vascular endothelial growth factor injection within past 6 months
  • Ocular disease such as cornea ulcer, uveitis, age-related macula degeneration
  • Physical disabilities such as stroke, limbs amputation
  • Uncontrolled systemic diseases eg diabetes, hypertension
  • Morbid Obesity (BMI > 40)
  • Dementia or any psychiatric diseases
  • Smoking

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Supportive Care
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Double

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Home-Based Circuit Training
Patients in Group A will be performing home-based circuit training three times per week for 12 weeks.
Behavioral: Home-Based Circuit Training
Participants assigned to the intervention group will perform a home-based circuit training program in addition to receiving standard glaucoma care. The exercise program consists of seven home-based exercises, including two aerobic exercises and five resistance-based exercises performed in a circuit format. Each session will last 30 minutes for week 1-6 and 60 minutes for week 7-12. It is performed three times per week on alternate days for 12 weeks, and is conducted at moderate intensity. Participants will continue their prescribed glaucoma medications throughout the study.
No Intervention: Control Group
Patients in Group B will not will be performing

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Intraocular pressure
Time Frame: Baseline, at 6 weeks and at 12 weeks
Baseline, at 6 weeks and at 12 weeks
Retinal Nerve Fiber Layer
Time Frame: Baseline, at 6 weeks and at 12 weeks
Baseline, at 6 weeks and at 12 weeks
Choroidal Thickness
Time Frame: Baseline, at 6 weeks and at 12 weeks
Baseline, at 6 weeks and at 12 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Universiti Sains Malaysia

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Estimated)

August 1, 2026

Primary Completion (Estimated)

August 1, 2027

Study Completion (Estimated)

December 1, 2027

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

July 24, 2026

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

July 24, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

July 29, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

July 30, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

July 29, 2026

Last Verified

July 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • HBCT-GLAU-2026-01

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

IPD Plan Description

Individual participant data (IPD) will not be shared because participant confidentiality and privacy will be protected in accordance with institutional ethics requirements and informed consent. Only aggregate study results will be published.

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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