Severe Retinopathy of Prematurity in Babies Having Birth Weight >1500 Grams in a Tertiary Care Centre in Southern Odisha

Abstract

BACKGROUND Retinopathy of prematurity, earlier known as retrolental fibroplasia, continues to be a major cause of preventable blindness in children. Increase in the incidence of ROP even in heavier babies, reminds us of the first epidemic of 1940s. Early detection and timely management can reduce the burden of ROP blindness to a large extent. We wanted to detect ROP in babies weighing more than 1500 grams at birth and analyse the risk factors associated with the same. METHODS This is a retrospective analysis (2 years) of 286 eyes (143 babies) with ROP. Qualitative data was analysed with the chi-square test. p Value <0.05 was considered as significant. RESULTS The mean birth weight was 1566.43 gms. (range 1500 gms. to 2000 g) and the mean period of gestation was 33.6 weeks (range 30 to 36). 286 eyes of 143 babies were evaluated, out of which 56 babies had signs of ROP. 6 babies needed urgent intervention and underwent laser ablative therapy and anti-VEGF. Multiple blood transfusions (p value =0.03), septicaemia (p value=0.0011) and oxygen supply (p value=0.029) showed significant correlation with the development of ROP CONCLUSIONS Customized screening guidelines are needed for developing countries. Stringent screening at the SNCU analysing the risk factors is required to battle the menace of ROP.