Risk of long-term ophthalmological complications in Taiwanese preterm infants: a nationwide cohort study.

Objectives: The aim was to determine whether different maturity levels and birth weights could change the risk of long-term ophthalmological complications in preterm infants.

Design: This was a cohort study.

Setting: This was a nationwide population-based study.

Participants: Newborns born between 2009 and 2012 were identified; newborns with congenital deformities, newborns with missing data on urban area, sex, gestational week at birth or birth weight and newborns who died before the age of 8 years were excluded.

Interventions: Infants were divided into full-term, preterm and preterm with retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) cohorts based on their basic characteristics at birth.

Primary outcome measures: The primary outcomes were ophthalmological complications, including strabismus, refractive error, amblyopia, cataracts and glaucoma.

Results: Ultimately, 735 702 infants were included in the analysis. There were 727 403, 7165 and 1134 newborns in the full term, preterm without ROP and preterm with ROP cohorts, respectively. Premature infants, whether without ROP or with ROP, had an elevated risk of various ophthalmic complications, with adjusted ORs (aORs) ranging from 1.48 to 2.74 and 1.90 to 10.34, respectively. Extremely low birth weight contributes to an increased risk of various ophthalmic complications, with aORs ranging from 2.21 to 6.55. Moreover, a higher number of negative variables, such as preterm birth or low body weight, increased the risk of various ophthalmological complications, with the aOR falling within the range of 1.03-23.86.

Conclusions: Immaturity and low body weight were risk factors for ophthalmological complications in preterm infants. The presence of both of these two risk factors increased the risk of ophthalmological complications. Our results are essential for caregivers and health policy-makers to design comprehensive follow-up plans for preterm infants.