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Refractive evaluation in thalidomide embryopathy

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Abstract

To evaluate the ocular findings associated with thalidomide embryopathy, we examined 86 of 100 Swedes who had a proven correlation between birth defects and the mother's intake of thalidomide during pregnancy. Cycloplegic refraction, keratometry, and axial length measurements were performed. The subjects were divided into four groups according to their physical malformations, giving a time frame for when in gestation the insult occurred (the sensitive phase for thalidomide is 20–36 days after conception). The results indicate a trend toward shorter and longer axial lengths, high refractive errors, and corneal astigmatism in thalidomide embryopathy compared to controls, and in addition there was a tendency for those anomalies to occur in the group with the earliest thalidomide-induced defects. It is suggested that thalidomide disturbs the growth and shape of the eye and that this effect is exerted early in its teratogenic period.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pediatric Ophthalmology, University of Göteborg, East Hospital, S-41685, Göteborg, Sweden

    Kerstin Strömland

  2. Department of Ophthalmology, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Ill., USA

    Marilyn T. Miller

Authors
  1. Kerstin Strömland
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  2. Marilyn T. Miller
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Offprint requests to: K. Strömland

Supported in part by Carmen and Bertil Regner's Foundation, the First of May Flower Annual Campaign, “Expressen” Prenatal Research Foundation, Vilhelm and Martina Lundgren's Foundation for Medical Research, Föreningen De Blindas Vänner, Kronprinsessan Margarethas Arbetsnämnd fbr Synskadade, by NIH core grant EY01792 from the National Eye Institute, Bethesda, Maryland, and an unrestricted research grant from Research to Prevent Blindness, Inc., New York, New York (University of Illinois at Chicago)

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Strömland, K., Miller, M.T. Refractive evaluation in thalidomide embryopathy. Graefe's Arch Clin Exp Ophthalmol 230, 140–149 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00164652

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00164652

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