The Frequency of Retinopathy of Prematurity in Premature Infants Referred to an Ophthalmology Clinic in Isfahan

Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) is a disease that affects vascularization in the eyes of premature infants and can proceed to new blood vessel formation.In this study we investigate the frequency of ROP in premature infants referred from Shahid Beheshti and Alzahra hospitals to an Ophthalmology Clinic. This is a cross-sectional study in which we evaluated data of 200 infants who were referred from two major hospitals of Isfahan, 100 infants from Shahid Beheshti and 100 infants from Al-zahra hospitals with birth weight less than 1800 g, and gestational age less than 34 weeks. The frequency of ROP and the correlation between gestational age, birth weight and duration of oxygen therapy with ROP were evaluated by Student t-test and χ2 test. We found that of 100 infants of Al-zahra hospital, 29% and of 100 infants of Shahid Beheshti 42% showed different stages of ROP, from which 38% of first group and 19% of later group needed laser therapy. The frequency of ROP in infants who received oxygen therapy more than 30 days was higher than those with oxygen therapy less than 10 days. In relation with different concepts about oxygen therapy, it seems that different period of oxygen supplementary can be the possible cause of different range of ROP occurrences.