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Visual assessment of preterm and full-term infants under the age of 12 months using the Preverbal Visual Assessment

Jungjae Lee1, Mee-Gang Kim1, Hae-Yeon Park1

  • 1Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Seoul St. Mary's Hospital, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Republic of Korea.

Early Human Development
|December 15, 2020
PubMed

Insights

Preterm infants show delayed visual maturation compared to full-term infants, as assessed by the Preverbal Visual Assessment (PreViAs) tool. This finding highlights the need for early visual assessments in high-risk newborns.

Area of Science:

  • Developmental Pediatrics
  • Ophthalmology
  • Neonatology

Background:

  • Infants develop complex visual skills within the first year of life.
  • Premature infants face elevated risks for abnormal visual and neurological development.
  • Traditional clinical evaluations offer limited insight into visual maturation in infants under 12 months.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To compare visual maturation between preterm and full-term infants younger than 12 months.
  • To evaluate the utility of the Preverbal Visual Assessment questionnaire (PreViAs) in this population.

Main Methods:

  • Retrospective cross-sectional analysis of infants under 12 months receiving early intervention.
  • Infants categorized as preterm or full-term and by age subgroups (0-4, 4-8, 8-12 months).
  • Assessment using the Preverbal Visual Assessment questionnaire (PreViAs).

Main Results:

  • Preterm infants (n=200) exhibited significantly lower mean PreViAs scores than full-term infants (n=225) across all age groups.
  • Very preterm and very low birth weight infants demonstrated significantly lower scores than moderate-to-late preterm infants.
  • Patent ductus arteriosus, retinopathy of prematurity, and birth weight correlated significantly with PreViAs global scores.

Conclusions:

  • The Preverbal Visual Assessment (PreViAs) questionnaire is a valuable tool for assessing infant visual development.
  • PreViAs is particularly useful for identifying visual maturation deficits in high-risk infants, including preterm neonates.
  • The study underscores the importance of early and specialized visual assessments for preterm infants.
Abstract

Keywords:
Cortical visual impairmentPatent ductus arteriosusPreterm infantsRetinopathy of prematurityVisual assessmentVisual development

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