ABSTRACT
Background: Advancing technology in antenatal and neonatal care has resulted in better survival of preterm neonates in developing countries in the past few decades. This has resulted in an apparent increase in the incidence of Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP), which is the most important cause of preventable blindness in infants.Methods: A prospective clinical study was done for 18 months in 400 preterm babies less than 34 weeks of Gestational Age (GA) or less than 1750 gm of Birth Weight (BW). ROP screening was performed. The babies who developed any stage of ROP were taken as cases and the babies who did not have ROP were taken as controls. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS software (Version 20.0). p value <0.05 was taken as statistically significant.Results: Four hundred babies were thus examined. The overall incidence of ROP in the study group was 10.25% (41 babies). Out of them, 38 babies (92.6%) had stage-1 ROP and 3 babies (7.31%) had stage-2 ROP. three babies (7.31%) required laser treatment. Risk factor analysis revealed that gestational age at birth, low birth weight, need foroxygenation, RDS, clinical sepsis, HIE, AKI, NNS, resuscitation, apnea.Conclusions: Screening should be intensified in the presence of risk factors like resuscitation, oxygen requirement, apnoea and prolonged hospital stay, which can reduce the incidence of severe stages of ROP as shown by this study.
ABSTRACT
Objective To explore the risk factors and morbidity of retinopathy of prematurity(ROP) and evaluate the appropriateness of the ROP screening criteria set by Ministry of Health in 2004.Methods Two hundred and eighteen premature infants conforming to the criteria set by Ministry of Health in 2004,who were hospitalized in West China Second Hospital from Feb.2011 to Feb.2012,were enrolled,and they underwent ophthalmologic examination.The results were analyzed and compared according to criteria recommended by the United Kingdom(weight≤ 1500 g or gestational age ≤31 weeks).Results In the 218 premature infants,11 (5.0％) cases had developed ROP.Between the groups of ROP and the contrast,the Apgar scores were 8.60 ± 1.78 and 9.53 ± 0.98,and the cases of patients with respiratory distress syndrome were 6 cases and 33 cases respectively,while the cases of patients with long-term oxygen therapy were 8 cases and 44 cases,the cases of patients with mechanical ventilation were 6 cases and 23 cases,while the cases of patients with transfusion therapy were 6 cases and 53 cases,respectively.And there were significant differences between the two groups (all P ＜ 0.05).There would have been 7 cases of ROP to be missed if the screening had been done in according to British guidelines.Conclusions There is a possible association between low Apgar scores,long-term oxygen therapy,mechanical ventilation and the incidence of ROP.The ROP screening criteria set by Ministry of Health in 2004 is practical for ROP screening in our region in China.ROP screening should also be done for the premature infants who had unstable clinical course,and respiratory distress syndrome in particular.