Myopia of prematurity, clinical patterns. A follow-up of Danish children now aged 3-9 years.

A discussion of myopia of prematurity is based on 16 low-birth weight children now aged 3-9 years. During their first months after delivery, retinopathy of prematurity had been observed in all but one subjects-here possibly missed due to incomplete control. Two subjects had cryotherapy. Two eyes out of 32 got blind; another 4 eyes became weak-sighted. The primary aim of the longitudinal study was to describe the variation in-and the course of-refraction, as apparent from serial examinations, the natural history so to say, to add new facets to our concept of myopia of prematurity and possibly to identify subgroups. Transient and fluctuating myopia being physiological in the first postnatal months, the diagnosis "myopia of prematurity' should not be forwarded too early. Some cases of early myopia which did not regress as usual over the first 6 months, later showed a reduction in degree of myopia over 1-2 years. Others pertained to the classical description of a stationary myopia, often of high degree, diagnosed in early childhood. Even in the favourable tail of the present distribution corrected visual acuity appeared subnormal according to age norms.