Ocular abnormalities associated with cerebral palsy after preterm birth

Purpose To document the ocular abnormalities in children with cerebral palsy (CP) after premature birth. Methods All the children born before 32 weeks gestation between 1 January 1990 and 31 December 1991 in a geographically defined population of approximately 3 million, were examined by an ophthalmologist and a paediatrician at 2 years old. Results Five hundred and fifty-eight children (98.8% of the study group) were examined, of whom 41 had disabling CP and 13 had nondisabling CP. Children with CP had a higher incidence of abnormalities compared with children without CP: cicatricial retinopathy of prematurity occurred in 8 children with CP (14.8%) compared with 8 without CP (1.6%, p < 0.0001), cortical visual impairment occurred in 6 with CP (11.1%) compared with 1 child without CP (0.2%, p < 0.0001) and concomitant strabismus in 28 with CP (51.9%) compared with 42 without CP (8.4%, p < 0.0001). The prevalence of refractive error without other ocular abnormalities was similar for children with CP (4/54, 7.4%) and those without CP (54/504, 10.7%, p = 0.90). Significant ocular abnormalities had been previously unrecognised in 8 children with CP Conclusion There are some differences between these results and previous series. These differences probably reflect the fact that previous work has studied severe CP of more diverse aetiology. The high frequency of abnormalities highlights the importance of ocular assessment of these children.