Visual function in school-aged children born before 29 weeks of gestation:a population-based study

The aim of this study was to assess visual function, including visual perce ption, in a geographically-based population of school-aged children, with a median age of 7.2 years (range 5.1 to 9.3 years), born before 29 weeks of gestation to mothers living in Goteborg, Sweden. Fifty-one preterm children participated in the study, six of whom had known brain lesions. Visual acu ity, visual fields, stereoacuity, and visual perception were tested. The Te st of Visual Perceptual Skills Revised (TVPS-R, Gardner 1996) was used to m easure visual perception, and the results were compared with those of 50 te rm (control) subjects, Six percent of the preterm children were visually im paired, with a visual acuity of less than 0.3 (6/18), while 42% of all the preterm children and 34% of those without known brain lesions had a total s core below the 5th centile of the reference material for the test, compared with 14% of the control subjects. In conclusion, visual-perceptual problem s seem to be common among very preterm children and should be screened for and assessed before the children start school.