Application of a neonatal assessment of visual function in a population of low risk full-term newborn

BACKGROUND: We have previously developed and described a battery of 9 items suitable for assessing different clinical aspects of visual function in newborn infants. AIM OF THE STUDY: Application of the test battery to a cohort of low risk term-born infants at 48 and 72 h after birth 1) to define the normative distribution of results for each item and 2) to document any effect of postnatal age. STUDY DESIGN AND SUBJECTS: 124 term-born low risk infants were assessed at 48 h; fifty of them were re-assessed 24 h later at 72 h. RESULTS: The visual test battery was successfully completed in 110 of the 124 infants assessed at 48 h and in all the 50 infants assessed at 72 h after birth. For 3 of the 9 items (fixation on a black/white target of concentric circles, on a coloured (red/yellow) face and horizontal tracking), the findings were very similar at both ages. For the remaining 6 items the range of findings was wider. There was a statistical difference in the responses obtained at 48 and 72 h for vertical and arc tracking (p<0.05) and the ability to discriminate stripes and attention at distance (p<0.001). CONCLUSION: Our results provide information on the visual abilities in a low risk population of term-born infants and the distribution of frequency of their visual responses to our battery of visual tests. These findings may be used as reference data when using our visual test battery in both clinical and research settings.