LOW-GRADE MYOPIA IN CHILDREN WITH REGRESSED RETINOPATHY OF PREMATURITY

Myopia is a frequent sequelae of retinopathy of prematurity. The mecha nism for myopia development in children born preterm is not well under stood. From a group of 33 myopic preterm children we selected those wh o had regressed retinopathy and myopic values less-than-or-equal-to 5 D. Seventeen children met our criteria. Of them, 10 patients could be re-examined. Factors related to myopia development were analyzed and c ompared to a control group of 12 children born fullterm with emmetropi a or low hypermetropia, as well as another group of 10 fullterm childr en with myopic values less-than-or-equal-to 5 D. The age of children r anged from 9 to 14 years in all groups. The mean birth weight in myopi c premature children was 1249.3 g. Higher keratometric diopter values were found in myopic premature children than in emmetropic fullterm ch ildren (p < 0.05) and myopic fullterm children (p < 0.05). Increased a xial length values were observated in myopic fullterm children when co mpared to myopic premature children (p < 0.05). In children born prete rm the corneal refractive power seems to play a major role in myopia d evelopment.