Red Blood Cell-related Risk Factors in Stage III of Retinopathy of Prematurity

Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) is a progressive neovascular retinal disorder in neonates. This study investigated the possible correlation of hematological and biochemical laboratory indexes with the plus disease and the neovascularization of the iris (NVI) statuses in stage III ROP patients.

This case-control study was performed on 124 stages III ROP patients [(a) 58 cases with plus disease and 66 cases without plus disease, (b) 7 cases with NVI and 117 cases without NVI] in the Ophthalmology center of Ayatollah Rouhani Hospital, Babol, Iran. All ophthalmologic examinations were performed according to the international classification of retinopathy of prematurity (ICROP) criteria. The hematopoietic/biochemical parameters were evaluated based on standard protocols.

The mean corpuscular volume (MCV) in patients with the plus disease was 84.88±22.274 fl/cell, while it was 94.12±14.419 fl/cell in ROP patients without the plus disease (p =0.012). Also, the mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH) in patients with the plus disease was 30.12±3.649 pg/cell, while it was 31.99±5.149 pg/cell in ROP patients without the plus disease (p =0.033). Our results showed that CRP is higher in patients with plus disease (16.11±29.403 mg/L) than patients without plus disease (3.25±2.633 mg/dl) (p=0.033). Also, SpO2 was significantly higher in stage III ROP patients with NVI (64.00±13.730 %) compared to non-NVI patients (75.58±16.135 %) (p=0.043).

Due to the correlation of CRP, MCV, and MCH with the severity of neovascularization, the long-term management of arterial oxygen may be effective in managing the severity of neovascularization in stage III ROP patients.