Purpose: To evaluate the prevalence of retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) in newborns, classify the cases, describe the risk factors for disease and treatment.
Methods: A retrospective observational cross-sectional study including newborns with gestational age ≤ 32 weeks and/or weight ≤ 1,500 g admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit of the Hospital de Clínicas, Universidade Federal de Uberlândia (HC-UFU) during the period of July 2005 to June 2007.
Results: We analyzed 148 patients. In 66 (44.6%) ROP was detected; 82 (55.4%) showed no disease. The statistically significant risk factors were: birth weight (p=0.0001), gestational age (p=0.0001), mechanical ventilation (p=0.0001), blood transfusion (p=0.0001), and postconceptional age (PCA) (p=0.0001). Of the 66 premature infants with ROP, 77% were treated medically (follow-up with indirect ophthalmoscopy) and 23% required surgical treatment or photocoagulation.
Conclusion: Based on the data above, the prevalence observed in this study was high. The development of ROP was inversely proportional to the weight and gestational age at birth.