title: Relationship between birth weight and retinal microvasculature in newborn infants.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purposes of this study were to determine the normal retinal microvasculature measurements in human infants who are born at term and to determine whether birth weight influences measurements of retinal microvasculature.
  
  
  METHODS
  Retinal arteriole and venule measurements were obtained in a cohort of 24 infants who were born at term. Digital images of both the retinas were obtained using a digital retinal camera after pupillary dilation.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In all, 24 newborn infants born at term (12 females and 12 males) were analyzed in this study. The measured retinal arteriole diameters were from 66.8 to 147.8 μm (mean, 94.2±19.6 μm), and the venule diameters were from 102.0 to 167.8 μm (mean, 135.2±19.1 μm). Seven babies in the sample had low birth weight (LBW), while 17 babies were born with normal weight. Babies with lower birth weights had larger arteriole (113.1±17.9 μm vs 86.4±14.4 μm; P=0.0009) and venule diameters (151.7±14.9 μm vs 128.4±16.9 μm; P=0.0040).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Retinal venules and arterioles in LBW babies are larger compared with those of normal-birth-weight babies. We postulate that the difference observed in our study was due to in utero pathophysiological changes that occurred in the cerebral circulation of growth-restricted fetuses.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neonatology, The Townsville Hospital, Douglas, QLD, Australia. Yoga_Kandasamy@health.qld.gov.au
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kandasamy
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: I M R
authors.initials: IM
authors.lastname: Wright
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Hartley
mesh_terms: D001160:Arterioles / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D001724:Birth Weight; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007230:Infant, Low Birth Weight; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D012016:Reference Values; D012171:Retinal Vessels / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D014699:Venules / Q000033:anatomy & histology*