Visual acuity correlates with severity of retinopathy of prematurity in untreated infants weighing 750 g or less at birth
H. A. Mintz-Hittner, T. C. Prager and F. L. Kretzer
Department of Ophthalmology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Tex. 77030.
Visual acuity was assessed in 72 patients who weighed 750 g or less at
birth, had intact visual pathways as confirmed with computed tomography or
magnetic resonance imaging, and had at least one eye evaluated for
cicatricial sequelae after active, untreated retinopathy of prematurity
without macular detachment (stage 4a or better). Visual acuities were
obtained for 137 untreated, sighted eyes. Severity parameters for
retinopathy of prematurity (stage of retinopathy of prematurity, refraction
[in spherical equivalents], macular ectopia [in disc diameters], and vessel
traction [in 30 degrees sectors]) was were significant predictors of visual
acuity (P less than .0001) based on results of linear regression and
stepwise regression analyses; however, parameters of retinal immaturity
(birth weight, gestational age, and zone of retinopathy of prematurity)
were not significant predictors of visual acuity. Visual acuity of the
study eyes was good (median, 20/30; geometric mean, 20/33.58), with no
statistical differences between eyes evaluated on last examination with
linear Allen figures and those evaluated with linear Snellen test types.
