OCULAR SEQUELAE IN EXTREMELY PREMATURE-INFANTS AT 5 YEARS OF AGE

Objective To report long-term ophthalmological sequelae in extremely p remature infants at 5 years and to determine the relationship between neonatal variables (including retinopathy of prematurity; ROP) and the 5 year ophthalmological outcome of these infants. Methodology The stu dy cohort comprised 84 surviving infants horn with a birthweight <1000 g or gestational age <28 weeks from June 1985 to December 1989. All i nfants had an ophthalmological assessment between 34 and 40 weeks post conceptional age to document grade of ROP and were assessed at 5 year s of age for fundoscopy, visual acuity, refractive error and ocular mo bility. Results Of the 84 long-term survivors 69 (82%) were formally a ssessed at 5 years. Overall, 30 (43%) had some form of ocular disorder . Nineteen (27%) had reduced visual acuity of <6/6 and three of these were blind, Myopia >-0.5 dioptre was noted in eight (12%), hypermetrop ia greater than or equal to 2.0 dioptre in five (8%), astigmatism in s even (11%) and strabismus was present in nine (14%) of the cohort. The re was a significant relationship (P<0.0001) between the incidence of ocular disorders and ROP. However, even those premature children witho ut ROP had a 31% incidence of ocular disorder at 5 years, Conclusion L ong-term ophthalmological follow-up is recommended in all extremely pr emature infants regardless of the presence of ROP in the neonatal peri od.