A clinical evaluation of correlation between postnatal weight gain and progression of stages of retinopathy of prematurity

Background: Retinopathy of prematurity also known as retrolental fibroplasia is a vasoproliferative disease of immature retina. It is a major cause of preventable blindness in neonates. Aim: To study the relationship between postnatal weight gain and progression of stages in retinopathy of prematurity. To evaluate the at-risk infants by screening their postnatal weight at two weekly intervals and monitoring the progression in severity of retinopathy of prematurity. To compare the progression in severity of ROP between infants with adequate postnatal weight gain and inadequate weight gain. Methodology: This is a prospective and analytical study of a total of 78 infants satisfying the inclusion criteria. Results: Of the 78 babies thus studied, 40 had adequate weight gain and 38 had inadequate weight gain. Of the 78 babies thus studied 43 showed progressions in stages of ROP and 35 showed regressions in stages of ROP in the second visit compared to the first visit. 43 babies going in for progression in stages of ROP, birth weight and weight during four and six completed weeks of chronological age were compared ant it effectively showed that out of the 43 babies progressing in stages of ROP 15 had adequate weight gain and 28 had inadequate weight gain. Conclusion: Thus, even when the pathogenesis of retinopathy of prematurity leading to type II ROP has set in preterm infants, adequate weight gain which is a surrogate marker in identifying the levels of serum IGF-1 has halted the progression in development of ROP and even helped in regression of type II ROP.