Aims: To determine the prevalence of ophthalmic impairments in very preterm compared with term infants, the relation between impairments and cerebral ultrasound appearances and retinopathy, and the correlation with visual perception and motor and cognitive measures. Subjects: 279 children at 7 years of age born before 32 weeks gestation within Liverpool during 1991-92 and attending mainstream schools, and 210 term controls. Methods: Visual acuity was assessed by Snellen chart, and strabismus by the cover test. Stereopsis was determined using the TNO random dot test, and contrast sensitivity using the Cambridge low contrast gratings. Visual and motor abilities were assessed using the Developmental test of motor integration (VMI) and the Movement ABC. Intelligence was measured with the Wechsler intelligence scale for children UK. Perinatal cranial ultrasound and retinopathy data were extracted from clinical records. Results: Children born preterm were significantly more likely to wear glasses, to have poor visual acuity, reduced stereopsis, and strabismus than term controls, but they showed no significant decrease in contrast sensitivity. Ophthalmic impairments were significantly related to poorer scores on the VMI, Movement ABC, and Wechsler IQ tests, but were not significantly related to neonatal cranial ultrasound appearances. Stage 3 retinopathy was related to poorer subsequent acuity. Conclusions: Children born very preterm and without major neurodevelopmental sequelae have an increased prevalence of ophthalmic impairments at primary school age which are associated with visual perceptional, motor, and cognitive defects. The cause may be a generalised abnormality of cortical development rather than perinatally acquired focal lesions of the brain.

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Nevirapine is a potent non-nucleoside inhibitor of HIV-1 reverse transcriptase. It is effective when used as part of combination therapy to treat HIV-1-infected individuals and as monotherapy for prevention of mother-to-child HIV-1 transmission. Nevirapine pharmacokinetics are characterised by rapid absorption and distribution, followed by prolonged elimination. Nevirapine is generally well tolerated. The most common toxicity is rash, which is usually mild and self-limiting. The primary route of nevirapine elimination is through metabolism by the cytochrome P450 enzyme system. Nevirapine elimination accelerates during long term administration because of autoinduction of the enzymes involved in its elimination pathway. The recommended regimen for adults is nevirapine 200mg once daily for 2 weeks, followed by 200mg twice daily. Nevirapine elimination is prolonged in pregnant women during labour and in newborns. A regimen of a single 200mg oral dose administered to the mother during labour and a single 2 mg/kg dose administered to the newborn at 48 to 72 hours after birth maintains serum nevirapine concentrations above 100 microg/L (10 times the in vitro 50% inhibitory concentration against wild-type HIV-1) throughout the first week of life. This limited regimen has been shown to be extremely well tolerated and to reduce mother-to-child transmission by nearly 50% in mothers and infants receiving no other antiretrovirals. There are few data describing the safety and pharmacokinetics of nevirapine during long term use in pregnancy. In children, nevirapine elimination accelerates during the first years of life, reaching a maximum at around 2 years of age, followed by a gradual decline during the rest of childhood. Children should receive 4 mg/kg once daily for the first 2 weeks of therapy, followed by 7 mg/kg doses twice daily if below the age of 8 years or 4 mg/kg twice daily if older than 8 years. Alternatively, children may receive 150 mg/m2 across all ages, once daily for the first 2 weeks of therapy followed by the same dose twice daily.