title: Prematures with and without regressed retinopathy of prematurity: comparison of long-term (6-10 years) ophthalmological morbidity.
abstract: Forty-two ex-prematures having had regressed forms of retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) during the neonatal period were compared with 42 matched non-ROP ex-premature controls at ages 6 to 10 years. The overall incidence of ophthalmologic problems was 55% in the ROP and 36% in the non-ROP group. Strabismus, amblyopia, and refraction anomalies occurred more frequently in the ROP group. In this group, a significantly greater number of children had decreased vision in one or both eyes compared to the non-ROP group. Although the incidence of ophthalmologic problems in the ROP group was considerably higher, the incidence in the non-ROP group still turned out unexpectedly high. this implicates that non-ROP very low birth weight neonates should also be considered to be at a greatly increased risk for later visual problems. Regular ocular examinations, mandatory for the ROP group, thus should be included in follow-up programs of non-ROP very low birthweight neonates as well.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neonatology, University Children's Hospital, Utrecht, the Netherlands.
authors.forename: B P
authors.initials: BP
authors.lastname: Cats
authors.forename: K E
authors.initials: KE
authors.lastname: Tan
mesh_terms: D000550:Amblyopia / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D002648:Child; D005128:Eye Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007234:Infant, Premature; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D009017:Morbidity; D009426:Netherlands / Q000453:epidemiology; D012030:Refractive Errors / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D012178:Retinopathy of Prematurity / Q000150:complications*; D013285:Strabismus / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology