title: Epidemiological analysis of retinopathy of prematurity in a referral centre in Turkey.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To collect data towards the establishment of a guideline to predict the population under risk for the development of retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) in Turkey.
  
  
  METHODS
  Medical reports of 2950 preterm infants who underwent screening examinations for ROP between 1996 and 2010 at Istanbul Faculty of Medicine, Department of Ophthalmology were reviewed. The study population was classified as inpatient infants and referred infants. A risk factor analysis was performed limited to the 788 inpatient infants. The demographical variables regarding birth weight (BW), gestational age (GA) and postnatal age at the time of treatment were compared independently between 403 referred and 64 inpatient infants who were treated for severe ROP.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean GA of the infants with severe ROP was 31.2±2.7 weeks, mean BW was 1543.4±508.3 g. The risk factor analysis of inpatient infants revealed BW<1500 g, GA<32 weeks; intraventricular haemorrhage, respiratory distress syndrome, sepsis, apnoea and phototherapy were associated with a higher incidence of ROP. In addition, sepsis, male gender, multiple gestations, BW<1500 g were associated with a higher incidence of progression to severe ROP, whereas maternal pre-eclampsia was associated with a lower incidence. On the other hand, comparison of demographic features revealed that the referred infants with ROP were born at a significantly higher BW and needed significantly earlier treatment than inpatient infants with ROP.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The high BW and GA of infants with severe ROP indicate wider screening criteria should be used in our country. BW might be a more important criterion than GA for ROP screening.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Kanuni Sultan Suleyman Education and Research Hospital, Altinsehir, Turgut Ozal Cd. No: 1 34303 Halkali, Kucukkcekmece, Istanbul 34303, Turkey. hbilgearaz@gmail.com
authors.forename: Bilge
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Araz-Ersan
authors.forename: Nur
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kir
authors.forename: Koray
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Akarcay
authors.forename: Ozlem
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Aydinoglu-Candan
authors.forename: Nedime
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Sahinoglu-Keskek
authors.forename: Atalay
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Demirel
authors.forename: Basri
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Akdogan
authors.forename: Asuman
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Coban
mesh_terms: D001724:Birth Weight; D018450:Disease Progression; D016021:Epidemiologic Studies; D005260:Female; D005865:Gestational Age; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D012017:Referral and Consultation; D012178:Retinopathy of Prematurity / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D012307:Risk Factors; D014421:Turkey / Q000453:epidemiology