Nancy J Ellish | Search PubMed

PubMed2003

Vitreous hemorrhage in patients with high-risk retinopathy of prematurity.

PURPOSE: To investigate outcomes in premature infants with high-risk retinopathy of prematurity and secondary vitreous hemorrhage. DESIGN: Retrospective chart review. METHODS: Patients were selected from a database of infants undergoing retinopathy of prematurity screening from September 1997 to November 1999. Infants with high-risk retinopathy of prematurity (zone I or posterior zone II threshold disease) with and without vitreous hemorrhage were compared. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Final stage of retinopathy of prematurity and short-term structural outcome were assessed. Visual acuity and refraction were measured when possible. RESULTS: Twenty-two eyes of 11 patients (group 1) had high-risk (posterior zone II or zone I threshold) retinopathy of prematurity without vitreous hemorrhage. Group 1 patients had a 91% favorable short-term structural outcome. Eight eyes of five infants developed vitreous hemorrhage with high-risk retinopathy of prematurity (group 2). Group 2 patients had only a 12.5% favorable short-term structural outcome. Seven of eight (87.5%) progressed to stage IVa or IVb retinopathy of prematurity. Six eyes underwent vitreoretinal surgery after a median duration of hemorrhage of 36 +/- 29 days (4-70 days). Three eyes developed stage V detachments and three progressed to phthisical degeneration. Final visual acuity was no light perception in three eyes. CONCLUSION: Vitreous hemorrhage, in association with advanced retinopathy of prematurity, is a poor prognostic sign.

Birth Weight↗

PubMed2002

Differences between screening sites in a glaucoma screening program.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the differences in demographic variables, glaucoma risk factors, and visual acuity by type of screening site. METHODS: We conducted glaucoma screenings throughout the city of Baltimore. A questionnaire collected information about age, race, and risk factors: having a relative with glaucoma, having diabetes, having a past eye injury or surgery, and not having an eye examination within two years. We also tested visual acuity and visual fields. We categorized screening sites into work places, senior centers, health fairs, and church groups, and created age-race groups by combining age and race categories. RESULTS: This study is based on 1,366 people screened at 42 different sites. The majority of people screened were African-American (65%) and female (58%), with a mean age of 48 years. We found significant age and race differences between the screening sites. After stratifying by age-race groups, we found statistically significant associations between screening sites and not having a recent eye examination (P =.009) and visual acuity (P =.001). Health fairs had the largest percentage of people not having a recent eye examination, and senior centers had the largest percentage of people with poor visual acuity. CONCLUSIONS: Our data showed differences in age and race between screening sites. After conducting stratified analysis, differences between screening sites and recent eye examinations and visual acuity persisted. These differences in screening sites, as well as objectives of the vision screening, should be considered when planning a screening program to help focus the program on appropriate high-risk subgroups of the population.

Adolescent↗