Table 2

Refractive error summary data (means, SD) for data in Figure 3

		MSE (D)		Astigmatism (D)		Anisometropia (D)
(Corrected) age	Study group	Mean	SD	Mean	SD	Mean	SD
Means and standard deviations (SD) for fullterm and preterm infants and different test ages. Data from fullterm infants at birth are replicated for term age comparison with preterm group.
MSE = mean spherical equivalent.
*Denotes a statistically significant difference between preterm and fullterm groups at the 5% level.
Birth	Preterm	0.47*	2.366	1.34	1.812	0.97*	1.191
	Full term	3.47*	1.721	0.78	1.064	0.40*	0.663

Term	Preterm	0.87*	1.723	0.66	0.786	0.32	0.475
	Full term	3.47*	1.721	0.78	1.064	0.40	0.663

6 months	Preterm	2.07	1.682	0.82	0.890	0.30	0.603
	Full term	2.36	0.879	0.61	0.826	0.07	0.211

12 months	Preterm	1.86	1.419	0.45	0.566	0.12	0.376
	Full term	1.11	0.405	0.36	0.748	0.11	0.197

4 years	Preterm	1.64	1.430	0.24	0.444	0.16	0.447