ABSTRACT.Purpose: To collect data on macular thickness assessed with Cirrus OCT in healthy children in a population-based study, to examine the repeatability and reproducibility, and to compare the values with Stratus OCT. Methods: Fifty-eight 6-to 15-year-old children, born at term, were examined. Best-corrected visual acuity and refraction were assessed. One examiner performed three OCT assessments, and the repeatability was calculated. Thereafter, a second examiner repeated the examinations to calculate the reproducibility. One eye was randomized to be included in the normal material. Finally, the second examiner assessed the macular thickness with the Stratus OCT. Results: The mean value (AESD) of central macular thickness was 255 AE 17 lm, and the total macular volume was 10.3 AE 0.5 mm 3 . No correlations were found between macular thickness and age, gender or refraction. The coefficients of variance (CoVs) for both repeatability and reproducibility were <1.21%, and the intraclass correlations (ICCs) were over 0.86. The Cirrus OCT showed a 29% thicker central macular thickness than the Stratus OCT. Conclusion: Normal values for macular thickness assessed with Cirrus OCT in healthy full-term children in a population-based study were reported. The assessments showed high repeatability and reproducibility. The values of Cirrus and Stratus OCT differed and the techniques were not interchangeable.

Extremely preterm birth constitutes a substantial risk factor for a thick central macula, even when adjusted for retinopathy of prematurity and male gender.

BackgroundThe aim was, first, to collect normative data of the optic nerve head and the peripapillary retinal nerve fibre layer (RNFL) thickness assessed with Cirrus SD-OCT, in healthy children in a population-based study; second, using these data, to examine repeatability, reproducibility and the interocular difference.MethodsOne-hundred and ten eyes from 57 children aged 6–15 born at term, were examined. Best-corrected visual acuity and refraction were assessed. Both eyes were examined and the interocular difference was calculated. Repeatability was calculated by one examiner performing three assessments. Thereafter, a second examiner repeated the assessments to calculate reproducibility.ResultsMean RNFL thickness was 99.2 (SD 8.8) μm, mean disc area 1.89 (SD 0.37) mm2 and mean rim area 1.52 (SD 0.26) mm2. No significant correlations with age, gender or refraction were found. Repeatability and reproducibility were good overall. There was interocular symmetry between the eyes.ConclusionsNormal values for optic nerve head and RNFL thickness assessed with Cirrus SD-OCT were gathered to obtain a normal material in children. High repeatability and reproducibility indicated reliability of assessments performed by different examiners on different occasions. Overall, good correlation between right and left eyes was found.

The function of rods and cones in children born extremely preterm has not yet been fully investigated.OBJECTIVE To compare retinal function via full-field electroretinographic (ffERG) recordings in 6.5-year-old children born extremely preterm with children born at term. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTSA subcohort study was conducted from July 1, 2010, to January 15, 2014, of the national Extremely Preterm Infants in Sweden Study, including preterm children (<27 weeks' gestational age) and children born at term, at 6.5 years of age and living in the Uppsala health care region in Sweden. Full-field electroretinography was performed binocularly, using DTL electrodes and electroretinographic (ERG) protocols with flash strengths of 0.009, 0.17, 3.0, and 12.0 candelas (cd)/s/m 2 , together with 30-Hz flicker and 3.0 cd/s/m 2 single-cone flash. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURESThe ffERG recordings were analyzed, and their associations with gestational age and retinopathy of prematurity were examined.RESULTS Adequate ffERG recordings were obtained from 52 preterm children (19 girls and 33 boys; mean [SD] age at examination, 6.6 [0.1] years) and 45 children born at term (22 girls and 23 boys; mean [SD] age at examination, 6.6 [0.1] years). Lower amplitudes of the combined rod and cone responses (the a-wave of the dark-adapted ERG protocol of 3.0 cd/s/m 2 : mean difference, -48.9 μV [95% CI, -80.0 to -17.9 μV]; P=.003; the a-wave of the dark-adapted ERG protocol of 12.0 cd/s/m 2 : mean difference, -55.7 μV [95% CI, -92.5 to -18.8 μV]; P = .004), as well as of the isolated cone response (30-Hz flicker ERG: mean difference, -12.1 μV [95% CI, -22.5 to -1.6 μV]; P = .03), were found in the preterm group in comparison with the group born at term. The implicit time of the combined rod and cone responses (the a-wave of the dark-adapted ERG protocol of 12.0 cd/s/m 2 ) was longer (mean difference, 1.2 milliseconds [95% CI, 0.3-2.0 milliseconds]; P = .01) in the preterm group, as were the isolated cone responses (30-Hz flicker ERG: mean difference, 1.2 milliseconds [95% CI, 0.5-1.8 milliseconds]; P < .001), than in the group born at term. No association was found between the ffERG recordings and gestational age or retinopathy of prematurity in the preterm group. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCEBoth rod function and cone function were reduced in children born extremely preterm when compared with children born at term. There was no association with retinopathy of prematurity in the preterm group, which suggests that being born extremely preterm may be one of the main reasons for a general retinal dysfunction.

No abstract