Abstract
Purpose :
The most active time of structural development for the eye is thought to be the gestational age (GA) range from 24 weeks to term. Little is known about refractive status during the first 12 months of life when infants are born prematurely. We conducted a retrospective, observational study to learn about changes in refractive error in preterm infants with and without retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) during the first year of life.
Methods :
Thirty-one infants (62 eyes) who were born at less than 32 weeks of GA with birth weight (BW) less than 1500 grams from Nov 2016 to Dec 2017 were included in this study. All infants had cycloplegic refractions performed at 3, 6 and 12 months of chronological age. The following data was collected and analyzed: GA, BW, ROP status and refractive error (in spherical equivalence, SE). Statistical analyses were performed using the SPSS software (Sigma Stat; Systat Software, Inc, San Jose, CA, USA). The confidence interval level was 95%. A p-value of less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant.
Results :
Of the 31 infants, 15 (48%) were females. GA was 29.5 ± 2.2 weeks. BW was 1221.0 ± 181.7 grams. Four infants had ROP and 1 was treated with laser. Refractive errors were +2.48 ± 1.09 D at 3 months of age, +2.06 ± 0.87 D at 6 months of age and +2.13 ± 0.87 at 12 months of age in all infants. Student’s t-test showed that refractive error changes between 3 M and 6 M were significant, p=0.02. The refractive errors between 6 M and 12 M were similar, p=0.8. The refractive errors were also compared between infants with and without ROP. At 3 months of age, refractive errors were +1.63 ± 0.19 in infants with ROP and +2.61 ± 0.15 in infants without ROP, p=0.0001. At 6 months of age, refractive errors were +1.50 ± 0.00 D in infants with ROP and +2.09 ± 0.15 D in infants without ROP, p=0.0001.
Conclusions :
These results suggest that during the first 12 months of chronological life, changes in refractive status in preterm infants occur mostly during the first 6 months. Infants with ROP demonstrated less hyperopia during the first 6 months compared with infants without ROP.
This abstract was presented at the 2019 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Vancouver, Canada, April 28 - May 2, 2019.