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Ocular sequelae in extremely premature infants at 5 years of age
Author(s) -
HEBBANDI SB,
BOWEN JR,
HIPWELL GC,
MA PJ,
LESLIE GI,
ARNOLD JD
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
journal of paediatrics and child health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.631
H-Index - 76
eISSN - 1440-1754
pISSN - 1034-4810
DOI - 10.1111/j.1440-1754.1997.tb01612.x
Subject(s) - medicine , retinopathy of prematurity , strabismus , pediatrics , gestational age , incidence (geometry) , cohort , refractive error , visual acuity , astigmatism , dioptre , ophthalmology , pregnancy , genetics , physics , biology , optics
Objective To report long‐term ophthalmological sequelae in extremely premature infants at 5 years and to determine the relationship between neonatal variables (including retinopathy of prematurity; ROP) and the 5 year ophthalmological outcome of these infants. Methodology The study cohort comprised 84 surviving infants born with a birthweight <1000 g or gestational age <28 weeks from June 1985 to December 1989. All infants had an ophthalmological assessment between 34 and 40 weeks post conceptional age to document grade of ROP and were assessed at 5 years of age for fundoscopy, visual acuity, refractive error and ocular mobility. Results Of the 84 long‐term survivors 69 (82%) were formally assessed at 5 years. Overall, 30 (43%) had some form of ocular disorder. Nineteen (27%) had reduced visual acuity of <6/6 and three of these were blind. Myopia > −0.5 dioptre was noted in eight (12%), hypermetropia ≥2.0 dioptre in five (8%), astigmatism in seven (11%) and strabismus was present in nine (14%) of the cohort. There was a significant relationship ( P <0.0001) between the incidence of ocular disorders and ROP. However, even those premature children without ROP had a 31% incidence of ocular disorder at 5 years. Conclusion Long‐term ophthalmological follow‐up is recommended in all extremely premature infants regardless of the presence of ROP in the neonatal period.