Division of Neonatology, Paediatric Intensive Care and Neuropediatrics, Department of Pediatrics, Comprehensive Centre for Pediatrics (CCP), Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
Neonatology. 2023;120(3):317-324. doi: 10.1159/000529594. Epub 2023 Mar 30.
Preterm infants are at risk for neurodevelopmental deficits. An association between retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) and impaired cognitive outcome has already been described. However, less is known about the impact of ROP on visual motor integration (VMI), which is a prerequisite not only for fine motor abilities but also for further school skills. Therefore, the aim of this study was to retrospectively investigate the impact of ROP on VMI at preschool age.
The study was conducted at the Medical University of Vienna, including patients born between January 2009 and December 2014 with a gestational age of less than 30 weeks and/or a birth weight of less than 1,500 g. VMI was determined by Beery-Buktenica Developmental Test of Visual Motor Integration (Beery VMI) at the age of 5 years.
Out of 1,365 patients, 353 met inclusion criteria for this study. Two hundred sixteen of them had no ROP, while 137 had ROP (stage 1: n = 23, stage 2: n = 74, stage 3: n = 40). Mean value of the Beery VMI score was significantly lower in the ROP group compared to the No-ROP group (90 ± 16 vs. 99 ± 14; p < 0.01). By correcting for other important medical conditions, ROP still had a significant impact on Beery VMI score (p < 0.01). Particularly, lower scores were found for stage 2 (p < 0.01) and stage 3 (p < 0.01).
Beery VMI scores were significantly lower in preterm infants with ROP stage 2 and 3 than in infants without ROP. This study shows the negative impact of ROP on VMI skills at preschool age, even after adjustment for key demographic and medical characteristics.
早产儿存在神经发育缺陷的风险。早产儿视网膜病变（ROP）与认知功能受损之间已经存在关联。然而，ROP 对视觉运动整合（VMI）的影响知之甚少，VMI 不仅是精细运动能力的前提，也是进一步学习技能的前提。因此，本研究旨在回顾性调查 ROP 对学龄前儿童 VMI 的影响。
该研究在维也纳医科大学进行，纳入 2009 年 1 月至 2014 年 12 月期间出生、胎龄小于 30 周且/或出生体重小于 1500 克的患者。在 5 岁时通过 Beery-Buktenica 发育视觉运动整合测试（Beery VMI）确定 VMI。
在 1365 名患者中，353 名符合本研究纳入标准。其中 216 名患者无 ROP，137 名患者有 ROP（1 期：n=23，2 期：n=74，3 期：n=40）。ROP 组的 Beery VMI 评分明显低于无 ROP 组（90±16 与 99±14；p<0.01）。在纠正其他重要的医疗条件后，ROP 对 Beery VMI 评分仍有显著影响（p<0.01）。特别是 2 期（p<0.01）和 3 期（p<0.01）的评分较低。
与无 ROP 的婴儿相比，ROP 2 期和 3 期的早产儿 Beery VMI 评分明显较低。本研究表明，即使在调整了关键人口统计学和医疗特征后，ROP 仍对学龄前儿童的 VMI 技能产生负面影响。
