Abstract
Purpose :
Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) is a vasoproliferative retinal disease that has a multifactorial origin and can cause serious vision disturbances. Our goal is to identify possible maternal risk factors (RF) and those associated with pregnancy for the development of ROP in newborns at risk examined in our center, between January 2015 and December 2019.
Methods :
A descriptive and retrospective study was carried out analyzing maternal and pregnancy-related risk factors in newborns with a birth weight less than 1500 grams and a gestational age less than 32 weeks in a 4-year period (2015 - 2019). Subsequently, a comparative study was carried out between a group of patients who developed ROP and a control group without signs of ROP who presented similar characteristics in terms of weight and gestational age. Finally, the statistical analysis of the data was carried out using SPSS Statistics 22.0.
Results :
88 newborns were evaluated (15 of them affected by ROP and 73 healthy children) as well as maternal and pregnancy-related risk factors of their mothers. The mean age among the mothers of children with ROP was 32.8 +/- 5.49 years, while the mean age of the control group was 31.93 +/- 6.64 years.
Different maternal RF that may influence the development of ROP were studied. Among these, those that occurred most frequently in the group of mothers of children with ROP were cesarean delivery (73.3%), multiple pregnancy (53.3%), infections during pregnancy (40%), and premature rupture of membranes (33.3%). However, we only found statistically significant differences in the presence of multiple pregnancy for the development of the disease, with a confidence interval of 95% (p = 0.037).
Conclusions :
The mothers of the newborns with ROP evaluated in our center presented various risk factors with relative frequency, such as cesarean delivery or infections during pregnancy. However, multiple pregnancy was the only factor that showed statistically significant differences compared to the control group (p = 0.037). Finally, it is necessary to emphasize the importance of maternal and pregnancy-related risk factors in the evolution of the newborns and in the development of ROP.
This is a 2021 ARVO Annual Meeting abstract.