incidence, severity and risk factors for retinopathy of prematurity in premature infants with late retinal examination

purpose: to determine the incidence, severity and risk factors for retinopathy of prematurity (rop) in premature infants with late retinal examination at farabi hospital from 2001 to 2006. methods: in a cross-sectional study, hospital records of premature infants who were examined later than 9 weeks after birth were reviewed for possible risk factors of rop including gender, singleton or multiple gestations, gestational age (ga), birth weight (bw), oxygen therapy, blood transfusion, photo-therapy, and respiratory distress syndrome (rds), as well as the age at initial examination. results: from 693 infants referred for rop screening, 191 (27.6%) had late retinal examination at mean age of 144.8±158.4 (range 64-1460) days. of these 191 infants, 75 (39.3%) had different stages of rop, 58 (30.4%) had stage 4 or 5 disease and 27 (14.1%) had stage 5 rop in both eyes which were untreatable. ga and bw were associated with development of rop (p<0.001). conclusion: the high prevalence of premature infants with late retinal examination and high incidence of severe rop necessitates prompt intervention to optimize referral and early screening of premature infants.