RESUMO
Background: Premature infants have avascular or incompletely vascularized retina at birth and ROP evolves over 4-5 weeks after birth. The aim of this study is to know the prevalence of retinopathy of prematurity in preterm infants, with birth weight ? 1500 grams and/or gestational age ?32 weeks in a tertiary care center.Methods: The study was conducted in Kovai Medical Centre and Hospital Coimbatore in 2016. The sample size is 95 babies. All preterm infants admitted with a birth weight of ?1500 grams and/or ? 32 weeks of gestation and baby those at risk of ROP.Results: 95 babies have enrolled during the study period of which 78 babies fulfilled the inclusion criteria and completed this prospective study.12 babies could not complete the follow-up protocol and 5 babies died before full vascularization of the retina. 78 babies who fulfilled the inclusion criteria were screened and 15 babies were found to have ROP. The prevalence of ROP in this study is 19.2%.Conclusions: Among the preventable causes of blindness in children, ROP figures very high on the agenda. Low birth weight and gestational age were found to be the most important risk factors for the development of ROP.