ArticleThe British journal of ophthalmology2023
Associations between systemic health and retinal nerve fibre layer thickness in preterm infants at 36 weeks postmenstrual age.
Article in The British journal of ophthalmology, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT02887157 (Analyzing Retinal Microanatomy in Retinopathy of Prematurity to Improve Care), which is not on this map. Cited by 8 papers.
What it found
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The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Analyzing Retinal Microanatomy in Retinopathy of Prematurity to Improve Care (BabySTEPS)
Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed, 9 citations in OpenAlex.
- Very Preterm Infant Retinal Microanatomy at 36 Weeks' Postmenstrual Age and 2-Year Neurodevelopment.JAMA ophthalmology · 2026Article
- Association Between Optic Nerve Morphology by Handheld Spectral Domain Optical Coherence Tomography and Intracranial Pathology in Preterm Infants.Translational vision science & technology · 2025Observational
- Fetal Growth Restriction Is Associated With Altered Optic Nerve Head Morphology in Term-Born Children and Adolescents.Investigative ophthalmology & visual science · 2025Article
- New Directions for Ophthalmic OCT - Handhelds, Surgery, and Robotics.Translational vision science & technology · 2025Review
- Preterm infant retinal OCT markers of perinatal health and retinopathy of prematurity.Frontiers in pediatrics · 2023Review
- Adults Born Small for Gestational Age at Term Have Thinner Peripapillary Retinal Nerve Fiber Layers Than Controls.Eye and brain · 2022Article
- The Development and Clinical Application of Innovative Optical Ophthalmic Imaging Techniques.Frontiers in medicine · 2022Review
- Advantages of Widefield Optical Coherence Tomography in the Diagnosis of Retinopathy of Prematurity.Frontiers in pediatrics · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
16 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
BACKGROUND/
aimsNeonatal insults from systemic diseases have been implicated in the pathway of impaired neurodevelopment in preterm infants. We aimed to investigate the associations between systemic health factors and retinal nerve fibre layer (RNFL) thickness in preterm infants.
methodsWe prospectively enrolled infants and imaged both eyes at 36±1 weeks postmenstrual age (PMA) using a hand-held optical coherence tomography system at the bedside in the Duke intensive care nurseries. We evaluated associations between RNFL thickness and 29 systemic health factors using univariable and multivariable regression models.
results83 infants with RNFL thickness measures were included in this study. Based on the multivariable model, RNFL thickness was positively associated with infant weight at imaging and was negatively associated with sepsis/necrotising enterocolitis (NEC). RNFL thickness was 10.4 µm (95% CI -15.9 to -4.9) lower in infants with than without sepsis/NEC in the univariable analysis (p<0.001). This difference remained statistically significant after adjustment for confounding variables in various combinations (birth weight, birthweight percentile, gestational age, infant weight at imaging and growth velocity). A 250 g increase in infant weight at imaging was associated with a 3.1 µm (95% CI 2.1 to 4.2) increase in RNFL thickness in the univariable analysis (p<0.001).
conclusionsLow infant weight and sepsis/NEC were independently associated with thinner RNFL in preterm infants at 36 weeks PMA. To our knowledge, this study is the first to suggest that sepsis/NEC may affect retinal neurodevelopment. Future longitudinal studies are needed to investigate this relationship further.
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