BCC Lam, KY Wong, YK Ng, CW Leung, SP Hui, CY Yeung

Abstract

Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) has become an increasing problem with improved survival of low birth weight infants. The etiology of ROP appears to be multifactorial. We have analysed the relationship between 30 perinatal risk factors and the development of RQP in 75 consecutive very low birth weight (VLBW) Chinese infants. The overall frequency of occurrence of RQP was 24% and severe ROP was 7% which were lower compared with previous studies. Eighteen of the 30 perinatal factors were significantly associated with the development of ROP. However, stepwise logistic regression analysis showed that only the duration of mechanical ventilation, indomethacin administration, respiratory distress syndrome(RDS) and bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) were found to be important perinatal risk factors for development of ROP in our series.