Abstract
Extremely preterm infants are at risk for neurodevelopmental problems and the visual system is particularly vulnerable. However, development of visual function in preterm infants with little or no retinal or neurologic injury has not been well defined. This study compared development of visual function in preterm infants without severe retinopathy of prematurity (ROP), intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH) or periventricular leukomalacia (PVL) to that of term infants at 5–7 mo corrected age. Twenty-one very low birth weight (VLBW) preterm infants (24–32 wk gestational age, weighing < 1500 g), and 22 healthy term infants were tested at 5–7 mo corrected age. Infants with any IVH/PVL and > Stage II ROP or Plus disease were excluded. Contrast sensitivity, grating acuity, and vernier acuity were measured using swept-parameter visual evoked potentials. Thresholds and maximum amplitudes were compared between groups. VLBW and term infants showed no differences in sensitivity for contrast (67.5 versus 63.8), grating resolution (12.4 versus 12.5 cpd) or vernier acuity (1.2 versus 1.0 arcmin). However, the amplitudes for swept contrast (p < 0.03) and swept vernier offset (p < 0.04) stimuli were higher in VLBW infants. Visual thresholds in VLBW infants without serious retinal or neurologic abnormalities were not significantly different from those of term infants, suggesting that increased visual experience does not influence visual sensitivity. The higher amplitudes in VLBW infants, suggests that visual experience may affect responses to suprathreshold stimuli.
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Abbreviations
- IVH:
-
Intraventricular Hemorrhage
- PVL:
-
Periventricular Leukomalacia
- ROP:
-
Retinopathy of Prematurity
- sVEP:
-
Sweep Visual Evoked Potentials
- VLBW:
-
Very low birthweight
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Supported in part by grant PDF 253013 from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (GM); grant 1 RO1 EY015228-01A2 from the National Eye Institute, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, Bethesda, MD (WVG, AM, AMN); grant 5 M01 RR000070 from the National Center for Research Resources, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, Bethesda, MD (Stanford University); funds from the Children's Eye Foundation of the American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus (WVG); and Smith Kettlewell Eye Research Institute (AMN, AM).
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Mirabella, G., Kjaer, P., Norcia, A. et al. Visual Development in Very Low Birth Weight Infants. Pediatr Res 60, 435–439 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1203/01.pdr.0000238249.44088.2c
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/01.pdr.0000238249.44088.2c
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