Macular Curvature in Children Born Preterm With and Without ROP - Results From the Gutenberg Prematurity Study Young

This study investigated the associations of prematurity, retinopathy of prematurity (ROP), and ocular geometry with the macular curvature coefficient in children and adolescents.

The Gutenberg Prematurity Study Young is a retrospective cohort study of preterm and full-term participants aged 4 to 17 years with a prospective ophthalmologic examination. The macular curvature coefficient in the foveal scan imaged with optical coherence tomography (OCT) and its associations with gestational age (GA), birth weight (BW) percentile, ROP occurrence and treatment, and other perinatal factors were investigated. These were evaluated in linear regression analyses. A second analysis assessed the association with ocular geometry.

In the present study, 453 eyes of 234 term-born participants and 906 eyes of 469 preterm-born participants were examined (mean age = 11.8 years, 375 girls). In multivariable analyses for perinatal parameters, ROP treatment (B = -57.82, P < 0.001) and perinatal adverse events (B = -15.3, P = 0.01) showed a negative association with the macular curvature coefficient. Regarding ocular geometry, spherical equivalent was negatively associated with the macular curvature coefficient after adjustment for age and sex (B = -6.19, P = 0.004). In a sensitivity analysis, subfoveal choroidal thickness was negatively associated with the macular curvature coefficient (B = -0.10, P = 0.001).

Our study showed that ROP treatment and perinatal adverse events were independently linked to a flatter macular shape in childhood and adolescence. The age-related growth of axial length leads to a larger macular curvature coefficient. Subfoveal choroidal thickness is involved in macular shape development at this age.