Risk Of Development Of ROP In Premature Infants Born At Different Heights In Latin America And Its Consequences With Their Gestational Age

ABSTRACT:

Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) is a visual disorder caused by abnormal growth of blood vessels in the highly-sensitive part of the eyes (retina) of premature babies. The most important risk factors are the gestational age with newborns before the 31st week of gestation and their weight (less than 1250 grams) so their diagnosis requires timely screening. In most cases, these cases resolve without treatment, however, they can cause permanent vision problems or blindness. In the Americas, characterized by different heights above sea level (a.s.l), there are no reports in the medical literature if this variable is a risk factor, so the present study will be useful as a new reference.

MATERIAL AND METHOD: A retrospective analytical cross-sectional study, was done into account all preterm newborns with ophthalmological examination registered in the Epic Latino databas in the different Neonatal units in the period 2015-2020. In order to determine the risk of retinopathy, a mixed binary risk model was produced to relate risk factors to height

RESULTS: A total of 2945 premature infants were found, 374 patients had a diagnosis of ROP, 51.8% were women and 48.2% were men, with a higher frequency at 27-28 weeks of gestation (with 35%). It was observed that the most important factor that determines the risk of Retinopathy is gestational age, where the neonatal units play an important role in developing ROP and that height has no effect (it does not increase the risk of ROP).

CONCLUSIONS: We concluded that gestational at birth continues to be the most important risk factor for the development of ROP, regardless of the height (a.s.l) at which newborns are born.

KEYWORDS:

ROP: retinopathy; premature newborn; low birth weight newborn; eye fundus; blindness; visual acuity; meters above sea level (m.a.s.l)

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https://www.medecinesciences.org/en/articles/medsci/full_html/2020/08/msc200225/msc200225.
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