title: Why is there an increase in ROP in recent years?
abstract: During a 12 year period (1975-1987) the incidence of blindness and partial sight due to ROP in the Netherlands was constant at approximately 3/100,000 live births. However the incidence appears to be rising since. Probable causes are an increasing number of twin and triplet births associated with assisted reproduction, an increasing mean maternal age, but the largest contribution is formed by the growing number of "relatively low risk" children not referred to university clinics due to screening problems.
authors.affiliation: Chairman of Ophthalmology, Free University Hospital, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: K E
authors.initials: KE
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.forename: B P
authors.initials: BP
authors.lastname: Cats
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007234:Infant, Premature; D007236:Infant, Small for Gestational Age; D008019:Life Style; D009426:Netherlands / Q000453:epidemiology; D010102:Oxygen Inhalation Therapy / Q000009:adverse effects; D012178:Retinopathy of Prematurity / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology