title: Visual sensory and perceptive functioning in 5-year-old very preterm/very-low-birthweight children.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To examine visual sensory and perceptive functions, study their interrelations, and explore associations between visual dysfunctions and intelligence in very preterm/very-low-birthweight (VP/VLBW) children.
  
  
  METHODS
  One-hundred and sixteen VP/VLBW children (57 males, 59 females; mean gestational age 30.1 wks, SD 2.3; mean corrected age 5 y 6 mo, SD 1 mo) and 73 term-born children (40 males, 33 females; mean gestational age 39.9 wks, SD 1.3; mean age 5 y 6 mo, SD 3 mo) completed visual sensory (acuity, visual field, contrast-, color-, and stereovision), perceptive (visual coherence, and Developmental Test of Visual Perception non-motor scale), and intelligence assessments.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Compared with term-born children, VP/VLBW children had reduced acuity (d=0.70, p<0.001), inferior visual field (d=0.67, p<0.001), and stereovision (v=0.19, p=0.008). VP/VBLW children showed weaker static coherence (d=0.49, p=0.001) and Position in Space (d=0.41, p=0.006) performance, independent of visual sensory deficits, and showed lower Verbal IQ (VIQ) and Performance IQ (PIQ; p<0.001). Visual perceptive functioning accounted for 13% of variance in VIQ, and for 35% of variance in PIQ.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Visual sensory and perceptive dysfunctions are present in VP/VLBW children and occur largely independently of each other. Visual perceptive dysfunctions are moderately associated with PIQ, and weakly with VIQ.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Neuropsychology, VU University Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands; Royal Dutch Visio, Centre of Expertise for Blind and Partially Sighted People, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
authors.forename: Christiaan Ja
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Geldof
authors.forename: Jaap
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Oosterlaan
authors.forename: Pieter Jelle
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Vuijk
authors.forename: Meindert J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: de Vries
authors.forename: Joke H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Kok
authors.forename: Aleid G
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: van Wassenaer-Leemhuis
mesh_terms: D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D052577:Infant, Extremely Low Birth Weight; D007234:Infant, Premature; D019102:Infant, Very Low Birth Weight; D008607:Intellectual Disability / Q000453:epidemiology*; D007361:Intelligence Tests; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D015835:Ocular Motility Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology; D014786:Vision Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D014796:Visual Perception