Visual function in low birthweight children

To determine the visual functions, at age 10-12 years, of a geographically based cohort of children of birth weight less than 1701 g. The results were compared to a group of children born at full term.

572 low birthweight (LBW) "low birthweight cohort" children who had been examined in the neonatal period were invited for review at 10-12 years of age. 169 11 year old schoolchildren born at full term were also recruited, "school cohort." Visual acuity (at distance and near), contrast sensitivity, colour vision, and visual fields were measured.

293 of the original 572 participants consented to a further examination. Compared to the school cohort of children born at term the low birthweight cohort showed significantly lower near and distance acuities and contrast sensitivity (p<0.001 for all uniocular and binocular measures). Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) was a very poor predictor of outcome and multivariate analysis did not identify any key neonatal factors as predictors of long term visual outcome.

Low birthweight children have a small but statistically significant deficit in both visual acuity and contrast sensitivity. Low birth weight and ROP both impact on long term visual functions.