Assessment of grating visual acuity in infants and young children with significant perinatal risk-factors

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the relationship between visual acuity and perinatal risk-factors. The Teller Acuity Card Procedure was used to obtain visual acuity estimates for 166 infants and young children (83 females, 83 males) between 3 and 36 months of age. All subjects were enrolled in the Newfoundland and Labrador Provincial Perinatal Clinic because of significant perinatal complications. The data were compared to those of a normative sample which were collected in the same laboratory (Courage & Adams, 1990). Results indicated a different pattern of visual acuity development for the two samples, with the "at-risk" sample below the normative sample between approximately 6 and 24 months of age. Multivariate analysis indicated that (1) very-low-birthweight (VLBW) and respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) had relatively less detrimental impact on the visual acuity of the at-risk sample than the 14 other risk-factors that were investigated and, (2) that bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) and pneumothorax had relatively greater detrimental impact on visual acuity. Results are discussed in terms of implications for early intervention and future research.