Changes in the Refractive State in Premature Children during the First Year of Life in the Madre Canguro Integral Program from the San Ignacio University Hospital in Bogota

Abstract

<em><strong>Objective:</strong></em> To determine the changes in the refractive state in three to four month old premature babies, corrected within a period of six months, who participated in the program from the Madre Canguro Foundation at the San Ignacio University Hospital in Bogota. Materials and <em><strong>Methods:</strong></em> Descriptive observational study in which the change of the refractive state under mydriacylen was evaluated in 96 patients (192 eyes) during a period of six months, and its association to other factors such as weight, age and gender, analyzing quantitative variables, describing average and standard deviation, median deviation with interquartile range and maximum and minimum values for each case and their correlation, as well as qualitative variables with absolute and relative frequencies. <em><strong>Results:</strong></em> The most frequent refractive errors are found in the category of +3.00 to +3.75 spheres and of cylinders of –1.00 to –1.75 to zero degrees. There is no relation between weight and corrected age, as well as between change of weight and the refractive change expressed as spherical equivalent. <em><strong>Conclusion:</strong></em> These results show that the change in the refractive state, especially in the sphere, was of 1.00 Dpt, while the cylinder remained stable. On the other hand, the most frequent defect was hypermetropic astigmatism, which coincides with the process of emmetropization.