Division on Visual Impairments

DVI Quarterly Volume 58(1)

A quarterly newsletter from the Council for Exceptional Children's Division on Visual Impairments containing practitioner tips for Teachers of Students with Visual Impairments, Certified Orientation and Mobility Specialists, and other professionals.

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influence the development of ROP, such as the use of supplemental oxygen after birth, blood transfusion, sepsis, and apnea. However, ROP does occur in the absence of these factors. According to Agarwal et al., "In general, more than 50% of preterm infants weighing less than 1250 g [2.75lbs.] at birth show evidence of ROP and about 10% of the infants develop severe ROP" (Agarwal, Azad, Chandra, Chawla, Deorari, & Paul, 2012). Shastry estimates that the incidence of ROP is 68% of infants weighing less than 1251 g and 98% of those weighing less than 750 g (1.65 lbs.) (Shastry, 2010). Increased Prevalence of Preterm Birth Prematurity is defined as an infant born before 37 weeks. The percentage of preterm births in the United States in 2010 was 11.99% according to the CDC (Hamilton, Martin, & Ventura, 2011). However, there is some debate as to the accurate definition of gestational age (GA) due to inconsistencies in the starting point of this measurement. If the GA is calculated to correspond to the mother's reported date of her last menstrual period (LMP), plus 14 days (the typical time of ovulation), there is room for error. The error can occur due to the mother's incorrect recollection of the date of the LMP, or due to fluctuations in the actual time of ovulation in individuals. If age is determined by other measurements, such as the length of the fetus via ultrasound, or the height of the mother's fundus, these are estimations and also allow for error (Barros, et al., 2012). This is important in the treatment and diagnosis of ROP, because there is a specific progression of the disease in the preterm infant after birth, according to the GA of the infant, which is detailed later in this paper. ROP occurs in early preterm infants whose eyes are still developing. The vascularization of the eyes occurs between weeks 16 and 36 41

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