Long-term evaluation of refractive changes in eyes of preterm children: a 6-year follow-up study.

Abstract

To investigate the longitudinal changes in refractive errors in preterm children with and without retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) in the first 6years of life. We included 226 preterm children with a gestational age of ≤34weeks: 222 eyes with no ROP, 73 eyes with mild ROP and 145 eyes with severe ROP. Longitudinal cycloplegic refraction data were collected initially and yearly thereafter until 6years of age. Eyes in the severe ROP group showed an increase in myopia values between the 1- and 3-year examinations (p=0.005), with little change thereafter. However, the mild/no ROP group demonstrated a nonsignificant increasing myopia values throughout the 6-year follow-up (p=0.073). Both the mild/no ROP and severe ROP groups were found to have increasing mean astigmatism values with increasing age, albeit nonsignificantly (p=0.418, p=0.384, respectively). Likewise, the stable mean values of anisometropia increased nonsignificantly during the first 6years of life in both the mild/no ROP and severe ROP groups (p=0.246, p=0.073, respectively). Severe ROP group had higher values regarding myopia, astigmatism, and anisometropia parameters than the mild/no ROP group for all ages during the follow-up. Preterm children with severe ROP should be closely monitored, and also those with mild/no ROP should be carefully followed up for not overlooking possible increases in refractive conditions.