Prematurity May Affect the Postoperative Sensory Results in Children with Strabismus

Abstract

Purpose: To analyze the motor and sensory outcomes of strabismus surgery in children born preterm (premature group) and full -term (control group). Methods: The study was performed at a tertiary university hospital. Children who underwent strabismus surgery between 2012 and 2019 were retrospectively reviewed. The success of surgery, postoperative overcorrection and undercorrection rates, and stereopsis and fusion test results were compared between the premature and control groups. Results: There were 70 patients in the premature group (mean gestational age: 31.25 weeks; range: 24 to 35 weeks) and 242 patients in the control group. The amounts of preoperative and postoperative deviations and overcorrection, undercorrection, and success rates were similar between the premature and control groups (P > .05). Stereopsis improved from 560 to 300 arc/sec postoperatively in the premature group (P = .066) and from 1,156 to 685 arc/sec in the control group (P < .001). The rate of fusion increased from 12.5% to 25% in the premature group (P = .50) and from 17% to 47% in the control group (P < .001). The analysis of strabismus subgroups revealed significant improvement of fusion in full -term patients (P < .001) and not in preterm patients (P = .50) with esotropia. Preoperative amount of deviation was the only risk factor for surgical success (P < .001). Age, sex, history of prematurity, and spherical equivalent refraction were not correlated with undercorrection (P > .05). Conclusions: Regardless of the type of strabismus, although the functional results after strabismus surgery were similar in preterm and full -term patients, the gain of stereopsis and central fusion was significantly higher in full -term patients compared to preterm patients.