Homaira Iqbal Khan, Mahfooz Hussain, Naeem Khattak, Sher Akbar.
Correlation of Axial Length in Newborns with Birth Weight.
Ophthalmol Update Jan ;15(4):371-8.

Purpose: The purpose of study was to find out correlation of axial length with birth weight in newborn babies in Pakistani population. Methods: The study was carried out in a tertiary teaching hospital. Axial length of 200 eyes of 100 new born babies was determined by using B scan. One hundred newborns had their birth weight recorded and correlation of axial length and birth weight was studied. Results: In the present study, male to female ratio was 55:45. In the study birth weight of 100 newborns was analyzed. Most of the newborns n=42(42%) had birth weight ranging from 3.1 to 3.9 Kg, n=24(24%) newborns had birth weight ranging from 2.1 to 2.9 Kg, n=19(19%) newborns had birth weight ranging from 4.1 to 4.9 Kg, n=15(15%) newborns had birth weight ranging from 1.6 to 1.9 Kg and all these 15 babies had axial lengths of less than 13mm. Mean birth weight was 2.99 Kg with a standard deviation � 0.80. All the 10 babies with weight less than 2kg had axial length of less than 12mm while all the 5 babies with weight between 2-3 kg had axial length less than 13mm. Conclusions: Low birth weight babies tend to have shorter axial length. This could be important as shorter axial length lead to hypermetropia which if uncorrected can develop amblyopia in children. The present study suggests that birth weight rather than gestational age should be used as the criteria to screening for refractive errors, especially in the developing countries where we have a higher incidence of malnutrition.

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