The incidence of retinopathy of prematurity in different gestational ages

Introduction: Since retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) is a preventable cause of blindness in children, evaluation of declared criteria for their screening is crucial. The aim of this study is to evaluate the incidence of the disease in Nikukari Eye Hospital according to gestational age and neonatal birth weight.

Methods: In this cross-sectional study, after determining the frequency of neonatal retinopathy based on patients referred to the ROP clinic, neonates were divided into groups of 500 to 1000 g, 1001 to 1500 g, 1501 to 2000 g, and above 2000 g, and 28 weeks, 28-30 weeks, 30-32 weeks, 32-34 weeks, and over 34 weeks, and the frequency of ROP in each group was compared.

Results: In the present study, 661 cases were evaluated, of which 93 infants (14.1%) had ROP. The mean±standard deviation of birth weight of patients with ROP was 1199.51±406.80 g and was significantly lower than those without ROP who had a mean birth weight of 2022.69±649.73 g (P=0.001). The mean±standard deviation (SD) of gestational age of patients with ROP was 29.22±2.67 weeks and was significantly lower than non-ROP patients, who had a mean gestational age of 33.41±2.73 weeks (P=0.001).

Conclusion: The results of our study showed that 13 newborns weighing between 1500 and 2000 g were affected by the disease, which indicates the importance of ongoing screening in this group of children.