title: Postnatal systemic inflammation and neuro-ophthalmologic dysfunctions in extremely low gestational age children.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Compared to infants born at term, children born very preterm are at increased risk of visual dysfunctions and neonatal systemic inflammation. Here, we explore whether these two propensities are related.
  
  
  METHODS
  As part of the ELGAN study, the concentrations of 16 mediators of inflammation were measured in blood obtained on postnatal days 1, 7, 14, 21 and 28 from 1062 children born before the 28th week of gestation. Presence of visual field deficit, strabismus and/or impaired visual fixation was recorded at age two. The concentrations of each protein were divided into quartiles within gestational week categories. We calculated odds ratios with 99% confidence intervals for having each disorder comparing children with concentration in the top quartile of each protein to children whose concentration was in the lower quartiles on the corresponding day. Analyses were adjusted for gestational age and birth weight Z-score.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Only one of 80 assessments (16 proteins on five different days) was significant for visual field deficit, and one for impaired fixation. No association was found between strabismus and any inflammatory mediator.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  None of the three neuro-ophthalmologic dysfunctions assessed at two years appears to be associated with systemic inflammation measured the first four postnatal weeks.
authors.affiliation: Department of Laboratory Medicine, Children's and Women's Health, Faculty of Medicine, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, Norway.
authors.forename: Mari
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3968-0851
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Holm
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroscience (INM), Faculty of Medicine, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, Norway.|Department of Ophthalmology, Trondheim University Hospital, Trondheim, Norway.
authors.forename: Dordi
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Austeng
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Biology, Laboratory of Genital Tract Biology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Raina N
authors.initials: RN
authors.lastname: Fichorova
authors.affiliation: Neuroepidemiology Unit, Department of Neurology, Boston Children's Hospital, and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Elizabeth N
authors.initials: EN
authors.lastname: Allred
authors.affiliation: Division of Pediatric Neurology, Department of Pediatrics, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Karl C
authors.initials: KC
authors.lastname: Kuban
authors.affiliation: Division of Neonatology, Department of Pediatrics, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC, USA.
authors.forename: T Michael
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: O'Shea
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health and Community Medicine, Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA.|Perinatal Epidemiology Unit, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany.
authors.forename: Olaf
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Dammann
authors.affiliation: Neuroepidemiology Unit, Department of Neurology, Boston Children's Hospital, and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Alan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Leviton
mesh_terms: D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D062071:Infant, Extremely Premature / Q000097:blood*; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007249:Inflammation / Q000097:blood*; D013285:Strabismus / Q000097:blood*; D014786:Vision Disorders / Q000097:blood*; D014794:Visual Fields
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers
keywords: Inflammation; Prematurity; Strabismus; Visual development; Visual impairment