Incidence and risk factors for any retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) and type 1 ROP in a neonatal care unit (NICU) in North Karnataka

Purpose: To report the incidence and risk factors for any ROP and type 1 ROP and treatment outcomes of type 1 ROP. Methods and Material: Infants born in our hospital with gestational age (GA) of < 34weeks or birth weight (BW) < 2000g were screened for ROP and treated if type 1 ROP developed. Incidence of any ROP and type 1 ROP were calculated. Several variables were evaluated by univariate and multivariate analyses to find their significance for any ROP and type 1 ROP. Results of treatment for type 1 ROP are reported. Results: Out of 263 infants screened, 64 (24.3%) developed any ROP and 15(5.7%) type 1 ROP. All the eyes with type 1 ROP showed complete regression after treatment. Multivariate analysis showed that; infants with GA of 31-34 weeks had significantly less any ROP (P=0.002) and type 1 ROP (p= 0.020) versus infants of GA ≤30w. Infants with BW≥1501g had less any ROP (P=0.025) and less type 1 ROP (P=0.018) versus infants with BW ≤1250g. Infants with BW 1251g to 1500g had less type 1 ROP versus infants with BW≤1250g. (P=0.042) and females had significantly less type 1 ROP (P= 0.012) versus male infants. Conclusions: The incidence of any ROP and type 1 ROP were relatively low in our study. Type 1 ROP regressed completely in all eyes after treatment. GA, BW and gender were significant factors for any ROP and type 1 ROP.