Zusammenfassung
Background The purpose of this investigation was to analyse the ophthalmic follow-up care of former pre-term and fullterm born infants aged 4 to 10 years in the clinical practice and the comparison to the recommendations of the national ophthalmic guidelines. Methods For the prospective Wiesbaden Prematurity Study (WPS), 503 infants were examined: 239 former pre-term infants (PT) with gestational ...
Zusammenfassung
Background The purpose of this investigation was to analyse the ophthalmic follow-up care of former pre-term and fullterm born infants aged 4 to 10 years in the clinical practice and the comparison to the recommendations of the national ophthalmic guidelines. Methods For the prospective Wiesbaden Prematurity Study (WPS), 503 infants were examined: 239 former pre-term infants (PT) with gestational age (GA) <= 32 weeks and 264 former full-termborn infants (FT) with a GA >= 37 weeks aged 4 to 10 years. Ophthalmic examination was performed including refractive measurements and orthoptic examination. Anisometropia was defined as a difference of >= 1 D spherical equivalent. Data was assessed if an ophthalmological examination was performed after hospital discharge, and how many times the ophthalmologist was contacted within the last 12 months. Results Overall, strabismus and anisometropia were present in 18 and 10% of all PT, and in 2 and 5% of all FT infants, respectively. In infants aged 4 to 6 years, 65% of all former PT and 42% of all former FT had ophthalmological contacts within the last year ( p = 0.002). 15% of the pre-term infants with strabismus did not have an ophthalmological examination within the last year. The parents of three former pre-term infants reported that they never had an ophthalmologic examination after hospital discharge. Conclusion Two-thirds of the former pre-terminfants participated in a screening examination at the age of 4 to 6 years in the last year according to their parents, which is recommended by the guidelines for the care of former pre-term infants. There is still room for improvement to provide best ophthalmological care for this vulnerable population that have high risk for strabismus and amblyopia.
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