Slightly elevated glucose levels in first week of life may contribute to ROP

Issue: July 2012

Continuous glucose monitoring showed glycemia to be a key factor in the development of retinopathy of prematurity, along with other prominent risk factors, a study found.

“Moderately elevated glucose levels in the first week of life are associated with the development of ROP,” the study authors said. “They contribute to this multifactorial disease in a way equal to the known classical risk factors for ROP. Therefore, careful monitoring of glucose levels by the continuous glucose monitoring system can be helpful in the prevention of ROP.”

The authors set out to use the continuous glucose monitoring system in infants with a very low birth weight to analyze the association between elevated glucose levels and ROP and to seek strategies for preventing ROP.

The analysis was undertaken in two neonatal intensive care units in Belgium. Data were culled from the NIRTURE trial.

The study included 100 infants with a birth weight of 1,500 grams, of whom 23 developed ROP.

Study results showed that the development of ROP was associated with accepted classic risk factors. Results also showed a statistically significant association between ROP and elevated glycemia levels across the first week of life (P = .01 to P = .0001).

Also during the first week, glycemia predicted ROP with receiver operating characteristic scores of 0.67 to 0.80, and with a median glycemia cutoff point of 6.7 mmol/L.

“Comparison of [receiver operating characteristic] curves revealed first-week glycemia as an important variable in the development of ROP with a predictive power as high as the classic risk factors,” the authors said.

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Source:

Eur J Ophthalmol. 2012;22(3):436-440.