ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: The aim of the present study was to evaluate the ophthalmologic care in childhood and adolescence of infants born preterm and full-term from the retrospective point of view of their parents. METHODOLOGY: The Gutenberg Prematurity Eye Study (GPES) is a retrospective cohort study with a prospective ophthalmologic examination of persons born preterm and full-term between 1969 and 2002 (now aged 18 to 52 years), and asks their parents about the ophthalmologic care received by their children in childhood and adolescence from their retrospective perspective. Participants and their parents were grouped into those with normal gestational age (GA) ≥ 37 (control group), preterm born infants without retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) and gestational age (GA) 33â-â36 (group 2), GA 29â-â32 (group 3), GA ≤ 28 weeks (group 4), and those with ROP without treatment (group 5) and with ROP with treatment (group 6). Parents of participants were interviewed about the ophthalmic care received by their children. RESULTS: In total, data from 57 full-term and 131 preterm infants and their parents were included in the present study. The parents of the participants reported that ophthalmologic examination had taken place until 6 years of age in the respective groups 1 to 6 in 22/57 (38.6%), 33/58 (56.9%), 22/38 (57.9%), 3/6 (50%), 19/21 (90.5%), and 7/8 (87.5%). Overall, between 83% and 100% of parents in the different groups reported that ophthalmologic care had been adequate. A change of ophthalmologist due to dissatisfaction with treatment was reported by a total of 4/57 (7%), 9/58 (15.5%), 8/38 (21.1%), 1/6 (16.7%), 1/21 (4.8%) and 2/8 (25%) in the respective groups. DISCUSSION: The present study demonstrates adequate satisfaction and good treatment regarding ophthalmologic care of former preterm children from the parents' perspective. Especially parents of children with ROP rated the treatment positively.
Subject(s)
Infant, Premature , Retinopathy of Prematurity , Child , Infant, Newborn , Humans , Infant , Adolescent , Retrospective Studies , Prospective Studies , Gestational Age , Retinopathy of Prematurity/diagnosis , Retinopathy of Prematurity/epidemiology , Retinopathy of Prematurity/therapy , Risk FactorsABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: The purpose of this investigation was to analyse the ophthalmic follow-up care of former pre-term and full-term 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-term born 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-term infants 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.
