PURPOSE: To determine the development of visual acuity in premature infants who required neonatal intensive care.

METHOD: Fifty infants who had been admitted into the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Kosair Children's Hospital and who returned to the Neonatal Follow Up Clinic were tested using the Teller Acuity Card System. Infants were 23-36 weeks gestation at birth and 1-12 months postnatal age at testing. Data were compared to previously published normative data using both chronological age and age corrected for prematurity.

RESULTS: The majority of infants completed testing within 5-10 minutes. Five infants (10%) were unable to finish testing due to fatigue or irritability. When comparing visual acuity based on chronological age, 1 of 45 infants (2.2%) required adjustment for prematurity to fall within the published normal range. Figure 1 and Figure 2 display the data.

figure 1

Figure 1

figure 2

Figure 2

CONCLUSION: Maturation of visual acuity in high risk, premature infants follows a similar pattern to that of term infants (published normals). Scores generally fall within term visual acuity norms. However, a small number of infants may require adjustment for prematurity.