title: Prevalence and course of strabismus through age 6 years in participants of the Early Treatment for Retinopathy of Prematurity randomized trial.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To present strabismus data for children who participated in the Early Treatment for Retinopathy of Prematurity (ETROP) randomized trial.
  
  
  METHODS
  The prevalence of strabismus, categorized as present or absent, was tabulated for all children with history of high-risk prethreshold retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) who participated in the ETROP randomized trial and were examined at 9 months to 6 years of age. Relationships among strabismus and demographic measures, eye characteristics, and neurodevelopmental factors were analyzed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Among the 342 children evaluated at 6 years, the prevalence of strabismus was 42.2%. Even with favorable acuity scores in both eyes, the prevalence of strabismus was 25.4%, and with favorable structural outcomes in both eyes the prevalence of strabismus was 34.2%. Of children categorized as visually impaired as the result of either ocular or cerebral causes, 80% were strabismic at the 6-year examination. Of 103 study participants who were strabismic at 9 months, 77 (74.8%) remained so at 6 years. Most strabismus was constant at both the 9-month (62.7%) and the 6-year examination (72.3%). After multiple logistic regression analysis, risk factors for strabismus were abnormal fixation behavior in one or both eyes (P < 0.001), history of amblyopia (P < 0.003), unfavorable structural outcome in one or both eyes (P = 0.025), and history of anisometropia (P = 0.04). Strabismus surgery was performed for 53 children. By 6 years, the cumulative prevalence of strabismus was 59.4%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Most children with a history of high-risk prethreshold ROP develop strabismus at some time during the first 6 years of life.
authors.affiliation: Children's Hospital Boston, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA. deborah.vanderveen@childrens.harvard.edu
authors.forename: Deborah K
authors.initials: DK
authors.lastname: VanderVeen
authors.forename: Don L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Bremer
authors.forename: Rae R
authors.initials: RR
authors.lastname: Fellows
authors.forename: Robert J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Hardy
authors.forename: Daniel E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Neely
authors.forename: Earl A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Palmer
authors.forename: David L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Rogers
authors.forename: Betty
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Tung
authors.forename: William V
authors.initials: WV
authors.lastname: Good
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D005403:Fixation, Ocular / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007234:Infant, Premature; D008297:Male; D009422:Nervous System Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology; D015995:Prevalence; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012178:Retinopathy of Prematurity / Q000150:complications* / Q000503:physiopathology; D012307:Risk Factors; D013285:Strabismus / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D014792:Visual Acuity / Q000502:physiology