Eye Conditions among Children of Premature, Full-Term, and Hypermature Birth

Abstract

Summary One hundred fifty-five children who were born before completion of the normal term of pregnancy or who weighed 5½ pounds or less at birth are compared with 439 children born at full term or with a birth weight of more than 5½ pounds. These two groups are compared with a smaller group of children born during or later than the tenth calendar month. The outstanding tendencies noted are the higher frequency of low vision at all of the ages studied among those born prematurely and the poorer median visual acuity through the ninth year in the same group. The presence of somewhat comparable defects and deficiencies in both the premature and hypermature groups provides a suggestion that hyper-maturity may prove to be of similar but probably less importance than is prematurity as an initial handicap. Summary One hundred fifty-five children who were born before completion of the normal term of pregnancy or who weighed 5½ pounds or less at birth are compared with 439 children born at full term or with a birth weight of more than 5½ pounds. These two groups are compared with a smaller group of children born during or later than the tenth calendar month. The outstanding tendencies noted are the higher frequency of low vision at all of the ages studied among those born prematurely and the poorer median visual acuity through the ninth year in the same group. The presence of somewhat comparable defects and deficiencies in both the premature and hypermature groups provides a suggestion that hyper-maturity may prove to be of similar but probably less importance than is prematurity as an initial handicap.