title: Importance of birth weight as a risk factor for severe retinopathy of prematurity when gestational age is 30 or more weeks.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine whether birth weight less than 1500 g is a relevant guideline indicating the need for examination for retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) when gestational age at birth is 30 or more completed weeks.
  
  
  METHODS
  A retrospective observational cohort study.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 266 infants in a single institutional neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), whose gestational age at birth was 30 or more weeks but whose birth weight was less than 1500 g, were examined according to published guidelines. Infants with lethal congenital anomalies or major ocular abnormalities were excluded. Outcomes were vascularization in retinal zone III without a prior need for treatment, or ROP warranting treatment.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A study outcome was reached by 212 infants. Two hundred and eleven (99.5%) became vascularized through zone III without needing treatment. Only 1 (0.5%) required treatment for ROP. The 95% confidence interval for the occurrence rate of ROP requiring treatment in this cohort was 0.01%-2.60%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results suggest that the occurrence rates of ROP requiring treatment in infants with gestational age 30 or more weeks and birth weight less than 1500 g is very low, and could indicate the need to revise examination guidelines for this subgroup of infants.
authors.affiliation: Division of Newborn Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Kravis Children's Hospital, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY.
authors.forename: Leslie M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Pierce
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY.|Department of Pediatrics, Kravis Children's Hospital, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY.
authors.forename: Edward L
authors.initials: EL
authors.lastname: Raab
authors.affiliation: Division of Newborn Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Kravis Children's Hospital, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY.
authors.forename: Ian R
authors.initials: IR
authors.lastname: Holzman
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY.
authors.forename: Robin N
authors.initials: RN
authors.lastname: Ginsburg
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY.
authors.forename: Scott E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Brodie
authors.affiliation: Division of Newborn Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Kravis Children's Hospital, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY.|Department of Preventive Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY.
authors.forename: Annemarie
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Stroustrup
mesh_terms: D001724:Birth Weight; D005260:Female; D005865:Gestational Age; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D019102:Infant, Very Low Birth Weight; D007363:Intensive Care Units, Neonatal; D008297:Male; D015997:Neonatal Screening; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D012178:Retinopathy of Prematurity / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000601:surgery; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors