Incidence and risk factors of retinopathy of prematurity in Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital: a baseline prospective study

Objective To determine the incidence of retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) and any associated risk factors among preterm infants at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) of Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH).Design Prospective study.Setting Level 3 NICU of KBTH from June 2018 to February 2019.Participants Eligible infants with birth weight (BW) less than 2 kg or gestational age (GA) less than 37 weeks were examined at scheduled intervals until full maturity of their retina.Outcome measures The primary outcome measure was cumulative incidence of ROP and secondary outcome measure was risk factors associated with ROP.Results Of the 401 infants, 222 were females (55.4%), mean±SD GA was 32.3±2.4 weeks (median 32, IQR 31 to 34) and mean BW 1.6±0.4 kg (median 1.5, IQR 1.3 to 1.9). The cumulative incidence of ROP was 13.7% (95% CI: 10.5 to 17.5%), with 1.8% (seven infants) having type 1 ROP. Increased risk of ROP was observed in babies with supplemental oxygen exposure (p