Epidemiological study finds increased incidence of ROP in US since 2003
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NEW YORK — The incidence of retinopathy of prematurity among at-risk infants has almost doubled during the past 2 decades and is greater in historically marginalized groups, according to a poster presented here.
“Increase in incidence may be driven by better screening and advances in neonatal care,” Anshul Bhatnagar and colleagues wrote in a poster at the American Society of Retina Specialists annual meeting.
Data were gathered from the Kids’ Inpatient Database, the largest all-payer inpatient pediatric database in the U.S. Out of 23,187,689 infants born between 2003 and 2019, 1,881,098 were classified as ROP candidates based on low birth weight and/or premature birth; 125,212 developed ROP.
When analyzing trends over time, a steady increase in ROP incidence among ROP candidates was found, from 4.4% in 2003 to 8.1% in 2019 (P < .001). A significantly higher incidence was reported among Black and Hispanic infants as compared with white, Native American and Asian infants (P < .001).
ROP incidence was also linked to economic status and region, with a greater increase in lower-income populations (P < .001) and persistently higher rates in the South and Midwest as compared with the Northeast and West (P < .001).
“Further evaluation of the differences observed is warranted,” the authors wrote.
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Bhatnagar A, et al. Epidemiology of retinopathy of prematurity in the United States from 2003 to 2019. Presented at: American Society of Retina Specialists annual meeting; July 13-16, 2022; New York.
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