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Macular morphology in former preterm and full-term infants aged 4 to 10 years

  • Pediatrics
  • Published:
Graefe's Archive for Clinical and Experimental Ophthalmology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Objective

To analyse macular retinal and choroidal layer thickness in former preterm and full-term infants and to assess associated perinatal influence factors and functional correlation.

Methods

This prospective controlled, cross-sectional, hospital-based study in a tertiary center of maximum care examined former preterm infants with a gestational age (GA) ≤ 32 weeks and full-term neonates currently aged 4 to 10 years. We investigated data from 397 infants, analysing total foveal retinal thickness and six distinct macular retinal layer and choroidal layer measurements via spectral-domain optical coherence tomography. Multivariable linear regression analysis was performed to investigate associations of layer thickness with GA and retinopathy of prematurity (ROP).

Results

Total retinal thickness in the fovea was thicker in former preterm infants with GA ≤ 28 weeks and in those with GA between 29–32 weeks compared to full-term infants independently of ROP. Occurrence of ROP was also associated with increased foveal thickness. Ganglion cell layer together with inner plexiform layer (GCL+IPL) was thinner in infants with GA ≤ 28 weeks than in full-term infants at 1000 and 2000μm distance from the fovea, but no association with ROP was present. Similar results were found for the photoreceptor layer. Total foveal retinal thickness was associated with low visual function.

Conclusion

This study identified low gestational age and ROP occurrence as main determinants for foveal thickening. Furthermore, thinned GCL+IPL measurements were associated with lower gestational age. This study highlights the prognostic value of these maturity parameters influencing retinal morphology, which may affect visual function.

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Acknowledgements

Participating investigators or Collaborators who collected data or provided and cared for study patients (in alphabetical order): Luca Christian, Serife Demirbas, Paula Divis Di Oliveira, Lisa Ernst, Shirin Ghafoori, Saskia Jordan, Petra Nikolic, David Scheele, Florian Tlucynski, Christine Zeymer.

This study contains parts of the thesis of Johannes Janz.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ophthalmology, Helios Dr. Horst Schmidt Klinik Wiesbaden, Ludwig-Erhard-Straße 100, 65199, Wiesbaden, Germany

    Achim Fieß & Ruth Kölb-Keerl

  2. Department of Ophthalmology, University Medical Center Mainz, Mainz, Germany

    Achim Fieß & Alexander K. Schuster

  3. Department of Paediatrics, Helios Dr. Horst Schmidt Klinik Wiesbaden, Wiesbaden, Germany

    Johannes Janz, Markus Knuf & Jacqueline Bauer

  4. Department of Ophthalmology, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany

    Bernd Kirchhof & Philipp S. Muether

Authors
  1. Achim Fieß
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  2. Johannes Janz
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  4. Ruth Kölb-Keerl
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  8. Jacqueline Bauer
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Achim Fieß.

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Competing interests

No funding was received for the study. The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Conflict of interest

All authors certify that they have no affiliations with or involvement in any organization or entity with any financial interest (such as honoraria; educational grants; participation in speakers’ bureaus; membership, employment, consultancies, stock ownership, or other equity interest; and expert testimony or patent-licencing arrangements), or non-financial interest (such as personal or professional relationships, affiliations, knowledge or beliefs) in the subject matter or materials discussed in this manuscript.

Ethical approval

“All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.”

Informed consent

“Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.”

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Fieß, A., Janz, J., Schuster, A.K. et al. Macular morphology in former preterm and full-term infants aged 4 to 10 years. Graefes Arch Clin Exp Ophthalmol 255, 1433–1442 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00417-017-3662-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00417-017-3662-5

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