RISK-FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH RETINOPATHY OF PREMATURITY - A STUDY FROM OMAN

In a prospective study at Sultan Qaboos University Hospital, out of 73 premature infants screened for retinopathy of prematurity (ROP), 25 ( 34 per cent) developed the disease. Nine significant risk factors were found to be associated with the development of ROP. These factors wer e lower birth weight, shorter gestational age, apnoea, top-up blood tr ansfusion, mechanical ventilation, receiving sodium bicarbonate for co rrection of metabolic acidosis, total parenteral nutrition, intraventr icular haemorrhage, and sepsis. However, with stepwise logistic regres sion analysis, only birth weight, gestational age, and total parentera l nutrition were found to be independently associated with the develop ment of ROP. The severity of ROP was significantly inversely proportio nal to both birth weight and gestational age. The tendency for the ass ociation of some risk factors to disappear when subjected to more stri ngent analysis (logistic regression) suggests that this association is more likely to be due to the length of treatment (particularly oxygen exposure and mechanical ventilation) and the overall severity of init ial illness.