Prevalence and Risk Factors of Retinopathy of Prematurity in Iran

The present study aimed to evaluate the frequency and risk factors of retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) among Iranian infants.

A retrospective cohort study was conducted on infants who had undergone screening for ROP at Farabi Eye Hospital, between March 2016 and March 2017. Data were analyzed based on the presence of extreme prematurity (gestational age ≤ 28 weeks), extremely low-birth-weight (≤ 1000 g), and multiplegestation (MG) infants.

The prevalence of ROP was 27.28% (𝑛 = 543) among all screened infants, 74.4% for extremely preterm (EP) infants, 77.5% for extremely low birth weight (ELBW) babies, and 27.25% for infants from MG pregnancies. On multivariate analysis, gestational age, birth weight, and history of transfusion (𝑃 < 0.0001, 𝑃 < 0.0001, and 𝑃 = 0.04, respectively) were found to be significantly associated with ROP. More advanced stages of ROP (𝑃 < 0.0001) were observed in EP and ELBW infants. Birth weight (𝑃 = 0.088), history of transfusion (𝑃 = 0.066), and intubation (𝑃 = 0.053) were not associated with increased risk of ROP in EP infants, while gestational age (𝑃 = 0.037) and history of transfusion (𝑃 = 0.040) were significant risk factors for ROP in ELBW infants. Gestational age (P < 0.001) and birth weight (𝑃 = 0.001) were significantly associated with ROP in infants from MG pregnancies in multivariate analysis.

ROP remains a commonly encountered disease, especially in ELBW and EP infants. The history of transfusion may have a role in stratifying the risk for ROP and guiding future screening guidelines.