Frequency of retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) in infants screened for ROP: two years follow-up results of a single center in Turkey

AIM: The aim of this retrospective study was to determine the incidence of retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) in infants referred to our clinic for screening ROP. MATERIAL AND METHOD: The data of 729 infants who were referred to the ROP outpatient clinic of the Ophthalmology Unit of Erzincan Binali Yildirim University, Turkey between April 2018 and March 2020 were analyzed retrospectively. The gestational age and weight of the infants, stay in the neonatal intensive care unit, duration of oxygen therapy, and detailed ophthalmologic examination findings were recorded in the study. FINDINGS AND RESULTS: Of the 729 babies screened for ROP, 122 (16.7%) of them had ROP. Infants with gestational age of ≤28 weeks constitute 3.3% of all infants and ROP rate was significantly higher than infants with older gestational age (P < 0.001). There were 39 babies born under 1000 grams and ROP was present in 28 (71.8%) of these infants and the incidence of ROP was higher than infants with higher birth weight (P < 0.001). With the result of logistic regression analysis, gestational age (OR:0.592,95% CI:0.208–0.779,P < 0.001), stay in NICU (OR:0.998,95% CI:1.022–1.421,P = 0.001), and duration of oxygen (O(2)) therapy (OR:34.309, 95% CI:2.043–28.235,P = 0.004) were detected the independent risk factors for ROP. CONCLUSION: Although infants with ≤1000 grams gestational weight and ≤28 weeks gestational age are more likely to have ROP, it is clear that screening for all infants at risk, regardless of gestational weight and age, is very important in preventing ROP-related vision loss. In addition, it is also recommended to control the duration of staying in neonatal intensive care unit and oxygen therapy to as little as needed.