LONGITUDINAL-STUDY OF NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL OUTCOME IN BLIND EXTREMELY-LOW-BIRTH-WEIGHT CHILDREN

This study evaluated neurological and psychological development in 10 blind children over a 4-year period, Five of the children were born pr eterm with an extremely low birthweight (ELBW) and a diagnosis of reti nopathy, whereas the other five were term, All children received their first neurological examination at a mean age of 10 months and then an nual follow ups, In addition, the Bielefeld Developmental Test for Bli nd Infants and Preschoolers (BDTB) was administered every 6 months (fr om the ages of 18 to 48 months) to assess developmental outcome in dif ferent domains (e.g. cognition, language, gross motor abilities). Resu lts shelved a higher number of peri- and neonatal complications in bli nd ELBW children as well as a significantly higher number of neurologi cal symptoms over the 4-year period. At the mean age of 4 years 10 mon ths, blind ELBW children had a significantly lower body weight, body h eight, head circumference, and body-mass index compared with the term children, Findings on psychological development revealed that blind EL BW children also had significantly lower scores on all domains covered by the BDTB. Finally, the overall score on the BDTB correlated signif icantly with gestational age, birthweight, duration of mechanical resp iration, and days spent in hospital after delivery.