A population-based study of ocular abnormalities in premature children aged 5 to 10 years.
We studied the prevalence of ocular abnormalities in 528 children born prematurely (less than 1,501-g birth weight, less than 33 weeks' gestational age, or both) in Stockholm County from 1976 to 1981. The control group consisted of 1,047 randomly selected full-term children. Through various searches of the ophthalmic records from the period of 1981 to 1986 of Stockholm County, we found that 134 of the 528 premature children (25.4%) and 121 of the 1,047 full-term children (11.5%) had needed ophthalmic care for different reasons. The prevalence of ocular abnormalities was much higher in premature children than in full-term children: reduced visual acuity of 20/33 or worse in the best eye (21 of 528 [4.0%] and one of 1,047 [0.1%]); myopia (33 of 528 [6.3%] and 18 of 1,047 [1.8%]); anisometropia of 1 diopter or greater (31 of 528 [5.9%] and 15 of 1,047 [1.5%]); strabismus (52 of 528 [9.9%] and 22 of 1,047 [2.1%]); and nystagmus (13 of 528 [2.4%] and one of 1,047 [0.1%]). Children with birth weight less than 1,000 g had the highest rates of ocular abnormalities. We conclude that visual and oculomotor development of premature children should be carefully examined.
Gallo
J E
JE
Department of Ophthalmology, Karolinska Institute, Huddinge University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden.
Lennerstrand
G
G
D000550:Amblyopia / Q000453:epidemiology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005865:Gestational Age; D006801:Humans; D007230:Infant, Low Birth Weight; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007235:Infant, Premature, Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015835:Ocular Motility Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology; D015995:Prevalence; D011897:Random Allocation; D012030:Refractive Errors / Q000453:epidemiology; D013548:Sweden / Q000453:epidemiology; D014786:Vision Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D014792:Visual Acuity