The Pro g ression of Myopia Associated with Retinopathy of Prematurity.

Cho, Sung Il; Lim, Hyun Taek; Park, Song Hee

Original Article

Journal of the Korean Ophthalmological Society 2002;43(11):2234-2240.
Published online November 1, 2002.

The Pro g ression of Myopia Associated with Retinopathy of Prematurity.

Sung Il Cho, Hyun Taek Lim, Song Hee Park

Department of Ophthalmology, College of Medicine, Soonchunhyang University, Korea. eyedrlim@hanmail.net

미숙아 망막병증과 관련된 근시의 진행양상

조성일 ( Sung Il Cho ) , 임현택 ( Hyun Taek Lim ) , 박성희 ( Song Hee Park )

Abstract

PURPOSE
To discover the characteristics and rates of myopic progression with increasing age in children who have had history of retinopathy of prematurity (ROP). METHODS: Retrospective chart review was performed of 72 eyes in 36 children who were diagnosed with ROP. Inclusion criteria were myopia over -0.5 diopter and the children that could have been followed for at least 5 years or longer. The subjects with stage 4 or 5 ROP were excluded. Data on the retinoscopic refractions at every 6 month in each patient were recorded. We measured the annual rates of myopic progression in each subgroup which were divided according to the severity of ROP, treatment modality, and the different age intervals. RESULTS: Overall annual rates of myopic progression was -0.53 D/year. The severity of ROP was not correlated with the degree of myopia and the rates of myopic progression. In terms of the rates of myopic progression, statistical significance was found only in subgroups who were treated by cryotherapy. The myopia in age group over 5 years showed less progression than that in age group under 5 years. In the patients with anisometropia, there was a tendency that the discrepancy in the refractions of both eyes decreased gradually with increasing age although there was no statistical significance. CONCLUSIONS: The rate of myopic progression was not directly correlated with the severity of ROP. But the myopia in patients who had undergone cryotherapy showed a marked progression with significantly higher rate.

Key Words: Cryotherapy;Myopia;Myopic progression;Retinopathy of prematurity