CLINICAL SCIENCE

Screening for retinopathy of prematurity: evaluation and modification of guidelines

E Larsson and G Holmström

Department of Ophthalmology, University Hospital, Uppsala, Sweden

Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
Gerd Holmström, MD, PhD, Department of Ophthalmology, University Hospital, S 758 95 Uppsala, Sweden;
gerd.holmstrom{at}ogon.uu.se

Aims: To evaluate current screening guidelines for ROP (retinopathy of prematurity) and to determine whether they can be modified.

Methods: In accordance with the authors’ present criterion, infants born in Stockholm County, Sweden, from 1 August 1998 to 31 July 2000, with a gestational age of 32 weeks, were screened for ROP. The effectiveness of screening was studied.

Results: The incidence of ROP was 25.5% in this study. A dropout group comprising almost 20% of the population studied (32 weeks), was never referred, were lost to follow up, or died before screening was completed. No infant with a gestational age of >31 weeks at birth developed severe ROP (stages 3–5) and no infant with a gestational age of >29 weeks was treated for ROP.

Conclusion: 80% of infants in this population with a gestational age at birth of 32 weeks, the current screening criterion, were effectively screened for ROP. The authors recommend that the screening criterion be lowered to 31 weeks since no infant with severe ROP would have been missed.

Keywords: retinopathy of prematurity; screening; guidelines

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