Retrospective study of corrected refractive status in premature infants of three to four months of age, performed in the Madre Canguro Integral Program at Hospital San Ignacio in Bogota

Abstract

The association between the optical parameters and the axial length of the eyeball gives the refractive status in children at birth, which changes with the child’s development until emmetropization. <em><strong>Objective:</strong></em> To determine the corrected refractive status in premature infants of three to four months of age in the Madre Canguro Integral Program at Hospital San Ignacio. Materials and <em><strong>Methods:</strong></em> Medical records of 4908 patients seen between July 1, 2004 and June 31, 2009 were reviewed. <em><strong>Results:</strong></em> 1731 records met the inclusion criteria (52.3 % men, and 47.7 % women). The average gestational age was 34 weeks (Q 4); the average weight at birth was 1880 grams with (Q 570). The refractive state was of 67.26 % for hyperopic astigmatism, and when classified into 64 categories, this defect represented 8.55 % (category 14 with +3.00 to +3.75 spheres, with -1.00 to -1.75 cylinders). No statistically significant association was found between the refractive error and weight at birth (p = 0.08), gestational age (p = 0.582), Luchenco classification (p = 0.968) and oxygen delivery (p = 0.568). Conclusions: The most frequent refractive error in premature babies is hyperopic astigmatism, which coincides with the emmetropization process; there is no correlation between the child’s maturity at birth and the degree of hypermetropy and no correlation was found between oxygen level and degree of ametropia.