{Reference Type}: Journal Article
{Title}: Colour perception develops throughout childhood with increased risk of deficiencies in children born prematurely.
{Author}: Pueyo V;Cedillo Ley M;Fanlo-Zarazaga Á;Hu L;Pan X;Perez-Roche T;Balasanyan V;Solanas D;de Fernando S;Prieto E;Yam JCS;Pham C;Ortin M;Castillo O;Gutierrez D; ;
{Journal}: Acta Paediatr
{Volume}: 113
{Issue}: 2
{Year}: 2024 02 29
{Factor}: 4.056
{DOI}: 10.1111/apa.16978
{Abstract}: To quantify the impact of prematurity on chromatic discrimination throughout childhood, from 2 to 15 years of age.
We recruited two cohorts of children, as part of the TrackAI Project, an international project with seven different study sites: a control group of full-term children with normal visual development and a group of children born prematurely. All children underwent a complete ophthalmological exam and an assessment of colour discrimination along the three colour axes: deutan, protan and trytan using a DIVE device with eye tracking technology.
We enrolled a total of 1872 children (928 females and 944 males) with a mean age of 6.64 years. Out of them, 374 were children born prematurely and 1498 were full-term controls. Using data from all the children born at term, reference normative curves were plotted for colour discrimination in every colour axis. Pre-term children presented worse colour discrimination than full-term in the three colour axes (p < 0.001). Even after removing from the comparison, all pre-term children with any visual disorder colour discrimination outcomes remained significantly worse than those from full-term children.
While colour perception develops throughout the first years of life, children born pre-term face an increased risk for colour vision deficiencies.