EEG, brain maturation, and the development of retinopathy of prematurity

Abstract

Objectives: The factors that influence the central nervous system (CNS) development can affect either the retina or the brain cortex. Immaturity of the brain cortex reflects immaturity of the retina and vice versa. The immature retina is more vulnerable than the mature retina, and is therefore more likely to develop retinopathy of prematurity (ROP). The aim of this study was to compare electroencephalographic brain maturity with ROP severity. Methods: Twenty-one prematurely born infants were divided into two groups according to the severity of ROP. The first group included 12 infants with ROP stage 3 or more and the second group included nine infants with ROP stage 2 or less. We have proposed an index of CNS maturity (M) as a percentage of interburst interval elongation compared with the norm using video-electroencephalography (vEEG). Results: The median M value was 1.07 (range = 0.43–4.44) for infants with severe ROP and −0.1 (range = −1.0 to 1.45) for infants with mild or no ROP (p = 0.000948). Conclusions: The study revealed that CNS maturation delay expressed as M value was higher among infants with severe ROP than among infants with mild or no ROP. EEG examination in prematurely born infants may prove to be a useful tool for predicting ROP development.

Keywords::

• Central nervous system
• interburst intervals
• prematurely born infants
• risk factors
• video-electroencephalography

Declaration of Interest: The authors report no declarations of interest.