| Summary: | Purpose: To understand the pattern of visual development in preterm children attending a primary eye care centre in Malaysia. To improve the knowledge and management of preterm children in the South East Asian region.
Methods: Clinical records of preterm babies born from 2000 to 2008 were reviewed retrospectively. Follow-up data from 1 to 6 years were also reviewed. Data collected included; gender, race, age at birth, current age, birth weight, and current weight, record of fundus examination, visual acuity (VA), refraction and strabismus.
Results: A total of 102 records were reviewed. Of these, 48 (47.1%) were males and 54 (52.9) were females, with 60 (58.8%) Malays, 20 (19.6%) Chinese, 21 (20.6%) Indian and 1 (1%) Caucasian. The average gestational age was 30.83 ± 2.42 weeks and average birth weight was 1.37 ± 0.36 kg. Around 38 (37.3%) of them had retinopathy of premature (ROP) and 64 (62.7%) were without ROP. Improvement of VA was observed with age. Children with ROP developed myopia with age and those without ROP became mostly hyperopic. Linear regression analysis indicated that degree of myopia is significantly associated with severity of ROP and birth weight. No significant increment of astigmatism was noted with age. Only 13.7% of them had strabismus.
Conclusions: This study concludes that children with ROP developed myopia with age and those without ROP became more hyperopic. Degree of myopia is associated with severity of ROP and birth weight. These factors should be considered during screening of vision and refractive error in children.
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