Visual and refractive outcomes of retinopathy of prematurity in school-age patients.

Authors

Yi-Hsuan Tseng, Wei-Yu Wang, Pei-Liang Wu, Eugene Yu-Chuan Kang, Kuan-Jen Chen, Nan-Kai Wang, Yih-Shiou Hwang, Chi-Chun Lai, Wei-Chi Wu

Published in

Graefe's archive for clinical and experimental ophthalmology = Albrecht von Graefes Archiv fur klinische und experimentelle Ophthalmologie. Jun 27, 2026. Epub Jun 27, 2026.

Abstract

To evaluate visual and refractive outcomes in school-aged patients with a history of prematurity and retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) with or without treatment.
This is a retrospective cross-sectional study. Participants were categorized into five groups: full-term, preterm without ROP, ROP without treatment, intravitreal injection of anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (IVI)-treated ROP, and laser indirect ophthalmoscopy (LIO)-treated ROP. Patients underwent comprehensive ophthalmic examinations, including cycloplegic refraction and optical biometry. Comparisons were stratified into two age cohorts: 5 ≤ AGE < 10 and 10 ≤ AGE ≤ 13. Refractive errors, axial length (AL), anterior chamber depth (ACD), corneal parameters, and lens thickness were measured and compared between the groups.
A total of 310 patients were enrolled in the study. Significant intergroup differences in AL, ACD, white-to-white distance, and best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) were observed across both age cohorts (all p < 0.05). In the older age cohort, post-hoc analysis revealed that LIO-treated eyes had significantly shorter AL (22.73 ± 1.51 mm vs. 24.39 ± 0.89 mm, p = 0.0057), shallower ACD (3.31 ± 0.46 mm vs. 3.78 ± 0.22 mm), smaller corneal diameter (11.53 ± 0.35 mm vs. 12.29 ± 0.42 mm, p = 0.0018), and steeper corneal curvature (46.23 ± 1.53 D vs. 42.95 ± 1.37 D, p = 0.0002) compared with full-term controls. When directly compared with IVI-treated eyes in the older cohort, LIO-treated eyes had significantly thinner corneas (p = 0.04) and steeper corneal curvature (p = 0.005). IVI-treated eyes exhibited biometric and refractive profiles similar to those of untreated ROP.
ROP and its treatment have long-term effects on ocular development and refraction. Laser-treated patients exhibited significantly higher myopia and astigmatism, shorter axial length, shallower anterior chambers, and smaller corneal diameters, particularly in older age groups. In contrast, IVI-treated eyes had a biometry closer to that of untreated ROP.

PMID:
42363983
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 27 Jun 2026.

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