PREVALENCE OF RETINOPATHY OF PREMATURITY IN ASIAN INDIAN BABIES FROM A TERTIARY CARE CENTRE

PURPOSE: To assess the prevalence of retinopathy of prematurity(ROP) in Asian Indian babies from a tertiary care centre MATERIALS AND METHODS: A prospective observational case study was conducted in the neonatal care unit of father Muller charitable institutions on all premature babies weighing < 2000 g at birth with gestational age </= 32 weeks admitted during the study period. RESULTS: 62 preterm infants were studied. Out of the 62 babies screened, 6 babies(9.68%) developed retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) and 56 babies (90.42%) were found to have normal retinal maturation, out of which one was a male baby and 5 were females. Out of the 6 babies with ROP, stage 1 disease was seen in 4 babies (66.67%) stage 2 disease was seen in 1 baby (16.67%) and stage 3 disease was seen in 1 baby (16.67%).(fig 2). No babies in our study group were diagnosed with stage 4 or stage 5 disease. 5 babies (83.3%) in our study had proliferative ROP and 1 baby(16.7%) had fulminant ROP. CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of ROP in our study was found to be 9.68% and that of treatable ROP was 16.7%