Ophthalmological problems associated with preterm birth

Abstract

As survival of preterm infants improves, the long-term care of consequent ophthalmic problems is an expanding field. Preterm birth can inflict a host of challenges on the developing ocular system, resulting in the visual manifestations of varied significance and pathological scope. The ophthalmic condition most commonly associated with preterm birth is retinopathy of prematurity, which has the potential to result in devastating vision loss. However, the visual compromise from increased incidence of refractive errors, strabismus, and cerebral vision impairment has significant impact on visual function, which also has influence on other developmental aspects including psychological and educational. In this review, the normal ocular development is discussed, aiming to exemplify the impact of early exteriorisation on one of the more naive organs of prematurity. This is then related to the incidence and visual consequences of many types of deficit, including refractive error, strabismus, and loss of visual function in preterm populations, with comparisons to term infant studies. Often these conditions are linked with causal and resultant factors being impossible to segregate, but the common factor of increased rates of all types of ophthalmic deficits demonstrates that children born prematurely are indeed premature for life.

Balance in children born prematurely currently aged 6–7

“…The development of medicine has made it possible to rescue children with low birth weight and severe complications resulting from prematurity. In premature infants, numerous health complications are diagnosed: retinopathy, hearing impairment, early brain injury with accompanying hypoxic events and ischemia [4,23,27,30,31]. They can adversely affect their development, including the balance system.…”

Morphometry Applied to the Study of Morphological Plasticity During Vertebrate Development

“…Subsequent hypoxia in the peripheral retina then produces proliferation of blood vessels in the eye of the premature infant (Fleck and McIntosh, 2008). Children with ROP often display abnormal eye movements and crossed eyes, suggesting that developing periocular tissues are also sensitive to variations in oxygen tension (O'Connor et al, 2007). Also important to this study, a strong correlation has been found between strabismus, anisotropia, amblyopia, and microphthalmia among newborns and maternal smoking during pregnancy (Hakim RB, 1992;Lempert, 2005;Ponsonby AL, 2007;Stone RA, 2006).…”

Ophthalmological follow-up of prematurely born children in preschool age: prospective study of visual acuity, refractive errors and strabismus

“…It is well known that ocular structures are continuing to develop and grow even after birth (22). No doubt that children born prematurely, even without clinically significant complications, have an increased incidence of unfavourable ophthalmic outcomes.…”