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Background: The causative factors responsible for the development of Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP) are still unexplored. Therefore, one of the most important factors can be perinatal inflammation. Methods: This retrospective study included 114 premature infants (228 eyes) meeting a birth criteria of ≤ 32 weeks gestational age (GA) and a birth weight (BW) ≤ 1710. Examined Group (EG) n = 51 of BW 852.7 ± 255.7; GA 26.3 ± 2.0 with severe ROP treated by diode laser or anti-VEGF intravitreal injection. Control Group (CG) n = 63 of BW 1313.9 ± 284.5; GA 28.8 ± 1.6 without ROP. Microbiological bacterial and fungal cultures of the ear, anus, bronchial throat and blood were taken. Medical data and laboratory tests in correlation to 3 ROP and A-ROP were analysed. Results: Positive bacterial tests dominated in EG, 47% vs. CG, 23%. Significant correlations between positive cultures obtained from natural cavities: anus (p < 0.001), throat (p = 0.002), as well as from blood (p = 0.001) and severe ROP which requires diode laser and anti-VEGF treatment were noted. Significant inflammation markers which correlate with the development of severe ROP are Klebsiella pneumoniae (KP) (p = 0.002) and Coagulase-negative Staphylococci (CoNS) (p < 0.001). CoNS, p < 0.001; KP, p = 0.002; the remaining Maltophilia stenotrophomonas (MS); Staphylococcus aureus (SA), p = 0.005; and Enterobacter cloacae (EC), p = 0.02 were the most frequent bacteria in severe ROP. High levels of white blood cells (WBC), C-reactive protein (CRP), lymphocytes (LYM) and low thrombocytes (PLT) correlated sequentially with (Odds Ratio, OR) CoNS (2.3); MS (5.9); KP (3.1); and all positive cultures (APC) (9.5). An important correlation between the BPD—EC (4.3); intrauterine inflammation—KP (3.4); PDA—EC (3.9); and asphyxia—CoNS (3.0) was identified. Conclusions: It cannot be ruled out that positive microbiological results of blood, anal and pharyngeal cultures may become prognostic markers for the early development of ROP, which would enable early initiation of ophthalmological treatment in premature infants from the VLBW group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The authors present the prevalence of refractive errors in premature infants, demonstrating the relationship between refractive development and selected demographic characteristics and the forms of treatment used: diode laser, anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (anti-VEGF) and combination therapy. Material and methods: The study included 56 healthy children without retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) and 63 children with ROP. Ophthalmologic evaluation and diagnosis were performed according to the International Classification of Retinopathy of Prematurity assessed in Ret-Cam 3. Treatment of ROP was carried out according to the guidelines of the Polish Ophthalmological Society using a diode laser (IRIDEX IQ 810) and an anti-VEGF intravitreal preparation (ranibizumab, Lucentis) at a reduced dose of 0.18 mg. Refractive measurements were taken at 7 months of age using a handheld computerized autorefractometer (Retinomax) after 1% tropicamide cycloplegia. Results: A statistically significantly higher prevalence of high myopia (p = 0.019) and low astigmatism (p < 0.001) was observed in the eyes of premature infants with ROP and moderate hyperopia in the group without ROP (p = 0.031) regardless of the treatment used [mean +1.33 spherical diopters (Dsfr.); SD ±3.09 for eyes with ROP vs. mean +2.42 Dsfr.; SD ±2.11 for eyes without ROP]. Birth weight (p = 0.01) and gestational age (p = 0.048) correlated with changes in spherical refraction in children with ROP. There were statistically significant differences in high myopia (p = 0.041), low myopia (p = 0.010) and low hyperopia (p = 0.014) in the group of premature infants treated for ROP depending on the form of therapy. Conclusions: There were statistically significant differences in high myopia (p = 0.041), low myopia (p = 0.010) and low hyperopia (p = 0.014) in the groups of premature infants with ROP and high myopia (p = 0.019) and low astigmatism (p < 0.001) in the groups treated with monotherapy or combined therapy. Birth weight (p = 0.01) and gestational age (p = 0.048) had a significant effect on refractive development in eyes with ROP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]