Study: Incidence of treatment for ROP more than doubled compared with previous years

The incidence of treatment for retinopathy of prematurity increased between 2001 and 2005 to 3.5% compared with a 1.3% treatment rate between 1996 and 2000, a study found.

Improved survival rates and changes in neonatal risk factors did not appear to explain the increased incidence, the authors noted.

Carina Slidsborg, MD, and colleagues obtained medical records of 5,467 Danish preterm infants born between 1996 and 2005, of which 2,616 were born between 1996 and 2000 and 2,851 were born between 2001 and 2005. All infants had a gestational age of less than 32 weeks and survived for at least 5 weeks after birth.

The researchers evaluated the population incidence of retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) in both treated and non-treated infants using parameters obtained from the national birth registry for blind and visually impaired children as potential risk factors, according to the study.

Investigators identified low gestational age, small for gestational age, male gender and multiple births as significant risk factors for ROP requiring treatment. However, "other, yet unknown factors contributed to the increased incidence in the latter half of the period," the authors said.

Overall, 0.6% of infants were registered as visually impaired due to ROP within 2 years after birth. "The incidences were not significantly different between 1996 to 2000 and 2001 to 2005," the authors noted.

The study is published in the January issue of Pediatrics.