Ocular Biometric and Optical Coherence Tomography Parameters in Former Preterm Children: A Cohort Study

To compare biometric and optical coherence tomography parameters as well as refractive status in preterm children aged 4-8 years with or without retinopathy of prematurity (ROP), and evaluate their correlations with age and gender-matched full-term children.

Retrospective comparative cohort study of four groups of children. Children with a history of preterm birth, including ROP who received intravitreal bevacizumab (IVB) treatment, children with a history of ROP that regressed without treatment and those with no history of ROP were compared to age and gender-matched full-term children as a control group. Best corrected visual acuity (BCVA), spherical equivalent of refraction (SE), macular and choroidal thickness, as well as biometric parameters was measured.

A total of 120 eyes of 120 children (30 children in each group) were included. There was no significant difference in BCVA, SE, and subjective cylinder between groups (p=0.05, p=0.3, p=0.6, respectively). Axial length was significantly shorter, and the cornea was steeper in both ROP groups than in other groups (p=0.001, p < 0.001, respectively). The central macular thickness was significantly thicker in the treated, regressed ROP and preterm groups than in full-term children (p < 0.001). The gestational age was negatively correlated with macular thickness in both treated and regressed ROP groups (r = -0.517; p=0.003, r = - 0.490; p=0.006, respectively).

Children with a history of ROP had a shorter axial length, steeper cornea, and thicker macula that correlated with lower gestational age.