Visual sensory and perceptive functioning in 5‐year‐old very preterm/very‐low‐birthweight children. (3rd March 2014)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Geldof, Christiaan JA; Oosterlaan, Jaap; Vuijk, Pieter Jelle; de Vries, Meindert J; Kok, Joke H; van Wassenaer‐Leemhuis, Aleid G
• Is Part Of: Developmental medicine & child neurology. Volume 56:Number 9(2014:Sep.)
• Page Start: 862
• Page End: 868
• Publication Date: 2014-03-03
• Subjects: Child development -- Periodicals; Pediatric neurology -- Periodicals; 616.8
• DOI: 10.1111/dmcn.12404
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0012-1622

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="main" id="dmcn12404-abs-0001"> <title> <x xml:space="preserve">Abstract</x> </title> <sec id="dmcn12404-sec-0001" sec-type="section"> <title>Aim</title> <p>To examine visual sensory and perceptive functions, study their interrelations, and explore associations between visual dysfunctions and intelligence in very preterm/very‐low‐birthweight (VP/VLBW) children.</p> </sec> <sec id="dmcn12404-sec-0002" sec-type="section"> <title>Method</title> <p>One‐hundred and sixteen VP/VLBW children (57 males, 59 females; mean gestational age 30.1wks, SD 2.3; mean corrected age 5y 6mo, SD 1mo) and 73 term‐born children (40 males, 33 females; mean gestational age 39.9wks, SD 1.3; mean age 5y 6mo, SD 3mo) completed visual sensory (acuity, visual field, contrast‐, color‐, and stereovision), perceptive (visual coherence, and Developmental Test of Visual Perception non‐motor scale), and intelligence assessments.</p> </sec> <sec id="dmcn12404-sec-0003" sec-type="section"> <title>Results</title> <p>Compared with term‐born children, VP/VLBW children had reduced acuity (d=0.70, <italic>p</italic><0.001), inferior visual field (d=0.67, <italic>p</italic><0.001), and stereovision (v=0.19, <italic>p</italic>=0.008). VP/VBLW children showed weaker static coherence (d=0.49, <italic>p</italic>=0.001) and Position in Space (d=0.41, <italic>p</italic>=0.006) performance, independent of visual sensory deficits, and showed lower Verbal IQ (VIQ) and Performance IQ (PIQ;<italic> p</italic><0.001). Visual perceptive functioning accounted for 13% of variance in VIQ, and for 35% of variance in PIQ.</p> </sec> <sec id="dmcn12404-sec-0004" sec-type="section"> <title>Interpretation</title> <p>Visual sensory and perceptive dysfunctions are present in VP/VLBW children and occur largely independently of each other. Visual perceptive dysfunctions are moderately associated with PIQ, and weakly with VIQ.</p> </sec> </abstract>