Children with ROP require continued follow-up care and vision therapy to combat potential visual impairment and other ocular problems. Photo: University of Iowa/www.eyerounds.org. Click image to enlarge.

Children born prematurely have more ocular problems than their at-term counterparts, including conditions such as retinopathy of prematurity (ROP), which has been treated in the past with cryotherapy, laser and now anti-VEGF injection. However, the literature shows that kids who’ve been treated for ROP have a high prevalence of refractive errors, strabismus and low vision compared with untreated children. To learn more, researchers obtained disease data, treatment and ophthalmological outcomes for 232 children aged 6.5 years in the Swedish National Register for ROP. They found that the degree of birth immaturity and retreatment were risk factors for ocular problems.

The retrospective, population-based study recently published in the British Journal of Ophthalmology showed that 14% of children had visual impairment (defined as visual acuity greater than 0.5 logMAR), 38% had strabismus, 52% had refractive errors and 65% had significant eye problems. The researchers found that retreatment was a risk factor for visual impairment and refractive error. Additionally, male sex and neonatal brain lesions were risk factors for strabismus. The researchers also noted in their paper that an additional week of gestational age was associated with reduced risk for refractive errors, strabismus and significant eye problems.

“The results underline the need for long-term follow-up of children treated for ROP to provide them with adequate glasses, eventual occlusion therapy and referral to the low vision center for visual rehabilitation when needed,” the researchers concluded in their paper.

Larsson E, Hellström A, Tornqvist K, et al. Ophthalmological outcome of 6.5 years children treated for retinopathy of prematurity: a Swedish register study. Br J Ophthalmol. January 30, 2023.