Incidence and Treatment Indications for Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP) in Hispanic Premature Infants

Abstract

Abstract: : Purpose: To evaluate the ROP incidence and treatment indications in Hispanic premature infants of a large county hospital. Methods: ROP endpoints were tabulated over 7 years (1997–2003) and compared to the CRYO–ROP study. Results: Among 335 babies meeting entry criteria of the CRYO–ROP study, any ROP (70.3%), stage 3 (17.9%) and threshold (4.8%) incidences were similar to those of CRYO–ROP study (P=0.42, 0.94, and 0.47, respectively, Fisher’s exact test). Based on the revised criteria for treatment of ROP recommended by the Early Treatment of ROP study (ETROP in Dec. 2003), 6 additional infants would have undergone ablative retinal therapy, and 9 of the 16 infants with threshold ROP would have been treated 1–4 weeks earlier (median=2 weeks). Conclusions: The incidence of ROP in these Hispanic premature infants was similar to that of the CRYO–ROP study (6.7% Hispanic). ETROP criteria would lead to 37.5% more infants undergoing ablative retinal therapy and 56.3% of those with threshold ROP treated earlier.

Keywords: retinopathy of prematurity • clinical (human) or epidemiologic studies: prevalence/incidence • retinal neovascularization