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Updated: Aug 11, 2026
Non-invasive Optical Measurement of Cerebral Metabolism and Hemodynamics in Infants
Published on: March 14, 2013
Color vision measured with pseudoisochromatic plates at five-and-a-half years in eyes of children from the CRYO-ROP
V Dobson1, G E Quinn, I Abramov
1Department of Ophthalmology, University of Arizona, Tucson 85719, USA.
Insights
Preterm children show higher rates of blue-yellow color vision deficits, unrelated to birth factors or ROP severity. Cryotherapy did not increase color vision deficits in treated eyes.
Area of Science:
- Ophthalmology
- Pediatric Medicine
- Genetics
Background:
- Preterm birth is associated with various developmental challenges.
- Color vision deficits can impact a child's development and learning.
- Understanding the prevalence and causes of these deficits in preterm infants is crucial.
Purpose of the Study:
- To determine the prevalence of color vision deficits in preterm children at 5.5 years old.
- To investigate the relationship between color vision deficits and birth weight, gestational age, and retinopathy of prematurity (ROP).
- To assess the impact of cryotherapy on color vision in infants with threshold ROP.
Main Methods:
- Studied two cohorts of preterm children from the Cryotherapy for Retinopathy of Prematurity (CRYO-ROP) study.
- Assessed monocular color vision using Standard Pseudoisochromatic Plates, part 2 (SPP2) at age 5.5 years.
- Compared color vision outcomes between natural history and threshold ROP cohorts, including cryotherapy-treated eyes.
Main Results:
- Prevalence of red-green deficits was similar to the general population.
- Blue-yellow deficits were over 200 times more common in preterm males and females.
- Blue-yellow deficit prevalence was linked to visual acuity but not birth weight, gestational age, or ROP severity.
Conclusions:
- Preterm children exhibit a significantly increased prevalence of blue-yellow color vision deficits.
- These deficits are not linked to birth weight, gestational age, or ROP severity in this cohort.
- Cryotherapy treatment for threshold ROP did not appear to increase the incidence of color vision deficits.
Purpose:
To investigate the prevalence of color deficits at age 5 1/2 years in preterm children with birth weights of less than 1251 g who participated in the multicenter Cryotherapy for Retinopathy of Prematurity (CRYO-ROP) study.
Methods:
Two cohorts of CRYO-ROP participants served as subjects: 1055 children who participated in a long-term study of the natural history of ROP at 5 of the 23 CRYO-ROP centers, and 187 children (from all 23 study centers) who had threshold ROP in both eyes and who were randomized to receive cryotherapy in 1 eye. Monocular color vision was tested at age 5 1/2 years, using the Standard Pseudoisochromatic Plates, part 2 (SPP2) for acquired color vision defects.
Results:
In the Natural History cohort, prevalence of red-green (R-G) color deficits was 6.6% for males and 1.0% for females, similar to that of the general adult population. Prevalence of blue-yellow (B-Y) color deficits was 2.8% for males and 2.2% for females, more than 200 times that in the general adult population. Prevalence of B-Y deficits was not related to birth weight, gestational age, acute-phase ROP, optic atrophy, or retinal residua of ROP, but was related to visual acuity. In the Threshold ROP cohort, color vision deficits were no more likely in eyes that had received cryotherapy than in control eyes.
Conclusions:
The results confirm an increased prevalence of B-Y deficits in children born before term, and provide evidence that the increased prevalence is not related to birth weight, gestational age, or severity of ROP within this group of preterm children. No evidence was found to indicate that cryotherapy increased the rate of color vision deficits in eyes with threshold ROP.
