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Reduced visual resolution acuity and cerebral white matter damage in very‐low‐birthweight infants
Author(s) -
SanGiovanni John Paul,
Allred Elizabeth N,
Mayer D Luisa,
Stewart Jane E,
Herrera M Guillermo,
Leviton Alan
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
developmental medicine and child neurology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.658
H-Index - 143
eISSN - 1469-8749
pISSN - 0012-1622
DOI - 10.1111/j.1469-8749.2000.tb00694.x
Subject(s) - medicine , confidence interval , visual acuity , gestational age , odds ratio , pediatrics , logistic regression , population , white matter , pregnancy , ophthalmology , magnetic resonance imaging , radiology , environmental health , biology , genetics
Neonatal cerebral white matter echolucencies predict visual resolution acuity deficits in very‐low‐birthweight (VLBW) infants. We examined maternal sociodemographic, lifestyle, intrapartum, infant birth/perinatal, and ocular motor/refractive characteristics to determine whether they accounted for this association in infants who were tested once between postnatal age 25 and 56 weeks (corrected for gestational age at birth). Cranial ultrasound scans were read by consensus to identify echolucency in a population of VLBW infants with no known ocular abnormalities. Visual resolution acuity was measured with the Acuity Card Procedure (ACP) in 14 infants with echolucency and compared with that of 81 VLBW infants born in the same hospitals with normal ultrasound scans. In time‐oriented logistic regression models, echolucency remained a consistent predictor of abnormal visual resolution acuity after adjustment for covariates in three developmental periods (pre‐, peri‐, and postnatal). Odds ratios ranged from 19.3 (95% confidence interval, 4.5 to 82.2; p =0.001) to 10.4 (95% confidence interval, 1.3 to 81.9; p =0.03). Reduced visual resolution acuity in VLBW infants appears to be due to cerebral white matter damage.