Ocular outcome in children born before 32 weeks gestation.
Ocular outcome was assessed in a 2 year cohort of all children born before 32 weeks gestation within a geographically defined population of approximately 3 million. Five hundred and sixty-five children were born within the study period; 558 children (98.8% of the study group) were assessed at approximately 2 years old. There was a high incidence of abnormalities, particularly strabismus (70, 12.5%), cortical visual loss (7, 1.3%), sequelae of retinopathy of prematurity (16, 2.9%) and other significant refractive errors (69, 12.7%). These data provide a recent estimate of gestational age-specific prognosis and suggest that follow-up yields a significant proportion of children with visual abnormalities who could benefit from treatment.
Pennefather
P M
PM
Department of Ophthalmology, Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.
Clarke
M P
MP
Strong
N P
NP
Cottrell
D G
DG
Fritz
S
S
Tin
W
W
D002675:Child, Preschool; D015331:Cohort Studies; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007234:Infant, Premature; D011379:Prognosis; D012030:Refractive Errors / Q000209:etiology; D012178:Retinopathy of Prematurity / Q000209:etiology; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013285:Strabismus / Q000209:etiology; D014786:Vision Disorders / Q000209:etiology*; D014792:Visual Acuity