Children whose weight was low when they were born have “a small but statistically significant deficit” in their vision by the time they are 10 to 12 years old, according to UK researchers.

In a study published in the British Journal of Ophthalmology, Dr. Anna. R. O’Connor, of the University of Liverpool, and colleagues compared the visual acuity, contrast sensitivity, color vision, and visual field of a group of low birthweight (LBW) children and a group of normal birthweight children.

A total of 572 LBW children who had been examined in the neonatal period were asked to undergo further examination at 10-12 years of age. Of the original participants, 293 agreed to be examined. A total of 169 11-year-old schoolchildren born at full term served as the comparison group.

The eyesight of the LBW children was significantly less sharp at near and far distances than that of the comparison children, and the contrast sensitivity of their vision was lower.

The research team looked for factors evident during the newborn period that might relate to later visual function, but came up blank.

This fact “highlights the difficulty of creating a targeted screening program for low birthweight children,” O’Connor and colleagues point out.

SOURCE: British Journal of Ophthalmology, September 2004.