Abstract
Purpose:
To determine the association between the severity of Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP) and the size of the infant’s electronic medical record (EMR).
Methods:
A retrospective review was performed on 387 neonates who underwent ROP screening at a tertiary referral institution from June 2008 through December 2011. Infants were classified according to the most severe grade of ROP detected at any ROP exam: Type 1 ROP (most severe), non-Type 1 ROP, or no ROP. The size of the neonate’s electronic medical record (in megabytes) was determined and compared to the severity of ROP for each neonate using a paired T-test.
Results:
Thirty one infants developed Type 1 ROP, 102 infants developed non-Type 1 ROP, and 254 infants did not develop ROP. The mean EMR size was 3.81 MB (95% CI 3.06-4.57) for infants who did not develop ROP. Compared to infants who did not develop ROP, the mean EMR size for infants who developed Type 1 ROP was 9.13 MB (95%CI 7.35-10.92, p=0.001), and 5.88 MB (95%CI 4.60-7.52, p=0.017) for infants who developed non-Type 1 ROP.
Conclusions:
The size of the electronic medical record (in megabytes) is correlated with a statistically significant increase in the severity of disease in neonates with ROP.
Keywords: 706 retinopathy of prematurity