Long-term grating acuity and visual-field development in preterm children who experienced bronchopulmonary dysplasia

Grating acuity, visual-held extent, and recognition acuity were examined in 77 children who had bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD), 101 children who had hyaline membrane disease (HMD), and 77 healthy preterm (HPT) children. None of the subjects had significant retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) or neurological abnormalities. Grating acuity and field extent were tested at 0 to 1, 4, 9, 12, 17, 24, 30, 36, and 48 months corrected age and recognition acuity was tested at 36 and 48 months corrected age. Ophthalmological examinations indicated that a greater proportion of subjects in the BPD group than in the HMD or in the HPT group had strabismus or high refractive error. However, grating acuity and field extent in the BPD group did not significantly differ from the HMD group or from the HPT group at any test age. Recognition acuity was poorer in the BPD and HMD groups than in the HPT group at both 36 and 48 months, but the difference was significant only at 36 months. These results suggest that children who experienced BPD with no significant ROP and no neurological complications show grating acuity and visual-field development comparable to that of healthy preterm children, but that recognition acuity, or the skills required to perform a recognition-acuity task, may be delayed in this BPD population.