Immaturity and Disease Severity are Independent Risk Factors to DevelopRetinopathy of Prematurity

Abstract

Purpose: Document indicators of an increased risk to develop retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) in low birth weight (LBW, 1 250g. In a logistic regression model in 248 LBW survivors, both GA (OR 0.42) and CRIB score (OR 1.35) remained independent risk factors for stage 3 ROP, resulting in 90% of cases classified correctly. Conclusions: Stage 3 ROP is almost exclusively limited to neonates with a birth weight below 1000g and retinopathy (any stage) is almost absent in neonates with a birth weight > 1 250g. Immaturity, i.e. GA at birth and CRIB score, reflecting disease severity, are the most important risk factors to develop retinopathy.