Risk Factors for Retinopathy of Prematurity in Preterm Infants in Kerman, Iran

Purpose: Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) is the main cause of blindness in premature infants. Despite developments in neonatal care and management guidelines, ROP is becoming increasingly prevalent worldwide. Hence, the identification of risk factors for ROP is critical to diminish the burden of the disease. Methods: This cross-sectional study included all infants with gestational age <= 36 weeks referred to the ophthalmology clinic at Shafa hospital, Kerman, Iran from 2014 to 2015. Ophthalmologic examinations were performed followed by demographic and ophthalmic data collection and analysis. Results: A total of 579 preterm neonates were screened including 325 boys and 254 girls. The incidence of ROP was 17.96%. Mean birth weight (BW) and gestational age (GA) were 1668.0 grams and 31.2 weeks, respectively. The results indicated that BW, GA, duration of hospitalization and oxygen therapy were significantly related to the development of ROP, however, after multivariate logistic regression analysis, only BW and duration of hospitalization remained significant. There were no significant associations between gender, type of delivery, or assisted reproductive technologies, and ROP (P = 0.461, 0.461, and 0.826, respectively). Conclusion: BW and duration of hospitalization were significant risk factors for ROP in the current study. BW was also strongly associated with the need for therapy.