ORIGINAL ARTICLE

¹ Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, The Canberra Hospital, Woden, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
² Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Westmead Hospital, Westmead, New South Wales Australia

Correspondence to:
Dr David A Todd
Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, The Canberra Hospital, PO Box 11, Woden, ACT Australia, 2606; David.Todd{at}act.gov.au

Background: Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) significantly increased in New South Wales (NSW) from 1986 to 1994, but more recent data suggest that there has now been a decrease.

Objective: To study the incidence and treatment of severe ROP (stage 3) in NSW and the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) from 1992 to 2002.

Methods: Data collected prospectively from the Neonatal Intensive Care Units’ (NICUS) Data Collection over an 11-year period in infants <30 weeks’ gestation were divided into four epochs and analysed retrospectively. The incidence and treatment of severe ROP were compared for gestational ages 24 weeks’, 25–26 weeks’ and 27–29 weeks’ gestation over the four epochs.

Results: In infants 24 weeks’ gestation the incidence of severe ROP and those treated increased significantly (stage 3: from 17 (41.5%) to 41 (53.9%), p = 0.052; treated: from 8 (19.5%) to 25 (32.9%), p<0.05 (first and fourth epoch)). In infants 25–26weeks’ gestation the incidence of severe ROP decreased significantly whereas there was a non-significant increase in those treated (stage 3: from 55 (26.2%) to 46 (19.3%), p<0.05; treated: from 19 (9.0%) to 32 (13.4%)). In infants 27–29 weeks’ gestation, there was no significant change in the incidence of severe ROP or those treated (stage 3: from 30 (4.1%) to 17 (2.4%); treated: from 14 (1.9%) to 8 (1.1%)).

Conclusion: In infants 24 weeks’ gestation there has been a significant increase in severe ROP, and in infants <27 weeks’ gestation the numbers treated for severe ROP increased.

Abbreviations: ACT, Australian Capital Territory; NSW, New South Wales; ROP, retinopathy of prematurity

Keywords: retinopathy of prematurity; preterm infants; cryo-therapy and laser therapy

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