Abstract
Objective: It is important to detect the visual problems at its earliest period, in order to improve the quality of life of newborns. This study aimed to determine the refractive status of healthy term Turkish babies and to investigate whether there is a correlation between refractive status and birth weight.
Material and Methods: Two hundred and three healthy full-term babies at an age of postnatal 8 weeks were included in the study. In order to evaluate refractive status, handheld autorefractometer device was used in all subjects. The types of refractive errors were analyzed both in right and left eyes separately. Measurements taken under cycloplegic condition were analyzed for spherical equivalent, astigmatism and anisometropia.
Results: Hypermetropia was found as the most common refractive error among the participants (65% in right eyes, 62% in left eyes). With the rule astigmatism is found to be the most common astigmatic pattern in both eyes (75% in right eyes, 70% in left eyes). Anisometropia incidence was found to be 8%. No correlation between refractive status and birth weight was detected (p=0.105 r=-0.280).
Conclusion: Our outcomes provide a cross-sectional refractive data of a group of term Turkish infants and show that the hypermetropia is the most common refractive error. We did not detect a correlation between refractive error and birth weight, birth height, and gestational age. Therefore, all infants regardless of the gestational age and other parameters should be screened for refractive errors.
Keywords: Astigmatism, Birth Weight, Gestational age, Hypermetropia, Refractive error
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Copyright and license
Copyright © 2020 The Author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.
