Comparison of Refractive Measures of Term and Preterm Children Aged One Year Old

Abstract

INTRODUCTION[|]To compare the refractive measures of preterm and full-term children aged 1 year old.[¤]METHODS[|]Fifty two eyes of 26 preterm children and 44 eyes of 22 term children were included in this study. Group 1 consisted of full-term subjects (mean GA 38.7 weeks), group 2 consisted of (mean GA 31.6 weeks) preterm subjects with no retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) and group 3 was included preterm subjects (mean GA 27.8 weeks) affected by ROP which required no treatment. All patients had undergone control examinations of autorefraction by Plusoptix S08 (PX) without cycloplegia and than fundoscopic evaluation at first year. The obtained refraction values were recorded as spherical equivalent (SE). The mean SE between the groups was compared statistically. [¤]RESULTS[|]Mean SE of group 1 was statistically significant compared to group 2 and 3 (p<0.01), difference in SE between group 2 and 3 was weaker but also significant (p<0.05). The rate of myopia in ROP (+) group 3 (45%) was higher than group 1 (16%) and group 2 (38%) and the rate of hyperopia in group 1 (52%) was quite higher than group 2 (%13) and group 3 (%10). The percentage of astigmatism were significantly higher in group 2 (85%) and 3 (53%) than group 1 (25%).[¤]DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION[|]Refractive errors are more often in preterm infants even in the absence of ROP. Therefore screening for refractive errors in preterm children is important to prevent amblyopia.[¤]

Keywords

• hyperopia
• myopia; preterm children; retinopathy of prematurity.