Babies born extremely preterm appear to have worse visual function through young adulthood, suggests a cohort study conducted in the U.K. and Ireland.

The study included infants born at 22 to 25 weeks′ gestation between March and December 1995 in the U.K. and Ireland. Age-matched individuals born full term formed the control group. Many of the participants in the control group were classmates to the study patients, who had been enrolled at ages 6 and 11 years.

The mean best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) among 128 young adults who were extremely premature at birth was found to be significantly worse in comparison with 65 individuals who were born full term (monocular vision: 0.14 vs. -0.06 logMAR; binocular vision: 0.06 vs. -0.14 logMAR,), reported researchers. Mean binocular contrast sensitivity was also worse among those born extremely preterm compared to controls (1.89 vs. 1.95). The findings are published in JAMA Network Open… (Medpage Today)