Abstract

Retinopathy of prematurity is an important cause of preventable blindness in children. With the availability of better Neonatal ICU and SNCU facilities, the survival rates of preterm babies have drastically increased with it the number of babies to be screened also increased. Niloufer Hospital being a tertiary care institute for children has been an epicenter where all the sick preterm babies are treated. Objective-To estimate the prevalence of ROP in pre-term infants, identify the risk factors which predispose to ROP, and assess the outcome of these cases. Material and methods -The preterm babies who attended the screening between April 2020 and 2021 who attended the ROP screening at Niloufer Hospital were retrospectively analyzed. ROP screening was done with Indirect ophthalmoscopy and 20 diopter lens. Babies born at 34 weeks and birth weight less than 1.5 kg and those born between 34 to 37 weeks with a turbulent early post-natal period or a low birth weight or by the discretion of the pediatrician were evaluated. Perinatal risk factors and those who developed rop were assessed. Results -660 babies were screened of whom 325(49.24%) were males and 335 (50.76%) were females. The mean birth weight of the screened babies was 1266gm and the mean gestational age of the screened babies was 32.46 weeks. ROP was seen in 27.12% of the babies and severe ROP was seen in 9% of babies. Conclusion-This study done during the covid period emphasizes the importance of screening and the incidence of ROP and severe ROP was similar to other studies from India. However, the longer duration of the study would give the trends of ROP.

Description