Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Retinopathy of prematurity occurrence and evaluation of screening policy in a large tertiary Greek cohort

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
International Ophthalmology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Purpose

To assess the frequency of retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) and evaluate the appropriateness of screening guidelines in a tertiary hospital in Thessaloniki, Greece.

Methods

Retrospective review of consecutive infants admitted to the IInd Department of the Neonatal Care Unit of Aristotle University in the period April 2004–2015. ROP screening took place according to the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health and Royal College of Ophthalmologists (UK) guidelines [i.e. gestational age < 32 weeks and/or birth weight < 1501 g)], plus a few additional cases due to comorbidity.

Results

1178 out of the 8782 admitted infants underwent ROP screening. ROP was detected in 232 (19.7%) infants of whom 87 developed severe form of the disease (i.e. ≥ stage 3). Treatment was required in 30 (2.5%) infants, all of whom fulfilled the screening criteria. Two of the 206 infants who were additionally screened due to comorbidity developed severe ROP which regressed spontaneously. Disease regression was achieved in 27/29 (93%) treated infants who survived.

Conclusions

The frequency of ROP observed in this cohort was as low as that reported in other developed countries. The currently used screening criteria permitted identification of all infants who were at risk and, therefore, need not be changed.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Gilbert C, Fielder A, Gordillo L et al (2005) Characteristics of infants with severe retinopathy of prematurity in countries with low, moderate, and high levels of development: implications for screening programs. Pediatrics 115:e518–e525. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2004-1180

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Painter SL, Wilkinson AR, Desai P et al (2015) Incidence and treatment of retinopathy of prematurity in England between 1990 and 2011: database study. Br J Ophthalmol 99:807–811. https://doi.org/10.1136/bjophthalmol-2014-305561

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Tabarez-Carvajal AC, Montes-Cantillo M, Unkrich KH et al (2017) Retinopathy of prematurity: screening and treatment in Costa Rica. Br J Ophthalmol 101:1709–1713. https://doi.org/10.1136/bjophthalmol-2016-310005

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Early Treatment For Retinopathy Of Prematurity Cooperative Group (2003) Revised indications for the treatment of retinopathy of prematurity: results of the early treatment for retinopathy of prematurity randomized trial. Arch Ophthalmol 121:1684–1694. https://doi.org/10.1001/archopht.121.12.1684

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Chow LC, Wright KW, Sola A, CSMC Oxygen Administration Study Group (2003) Can changes in clinical practice decrease the incidence of severe retinopathy of prematurity in very low birth weight infants? Pediatrics 111:339–345

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Holmström G, Hellström A, Jakobsson P et al (2015) Evaluation of new guidelines for ROP screening in Sweden using SWEDROP–a national quality register. Acta Ophthalmol 93:265–268. https://doi.org/10.1111/aos.12506

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Giapros V, Drougia A, Asproudis I et al (2011) Low gestational age and chronic lung disease are synergistic risk factors for retinopathy of prematurity. Early Hum Dev 87:653–657. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.earlhumdev.2011.05.003

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Asproudis IC, Andronikou SK, Hotoura EA et al (2002) Retinopathy of prematurity and other ocular problems in premature infants weighing less than 1500 g at birth. Eur J Ophthalmol 12:506–511

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Association of Perinatal Medicine (1996) Retinopathy of prematurity: guidelines for screening and treatment. The report of a joint working party of the royal college of ophthalmologists and the British association of perinatal medicine. Early Hum Dev 46:239–258. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0378-3782(96)01747-1

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Royal College of Ophthalmologists, Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (2008) Guideline for the screening and treatment of retinopathy of prematurity. UK retinopathy of prematurity guideline. https://www.rcophth.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/2008-SCI-021-Guidelines-Retinopathy-of-Prematurity.pdf. Accessed 3 Jun 2017

  11. Committee for the Classification of Retinopathy of Prematurity (1984) An international classification of retinopathy of prematurity. Arch Ophthalmol 102:1130–1134

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. International Committee for the Classification of Retinopathy of Prematurity (2005) The international classification of retinopathy of prematurity revisited. Arch Ophthalmol 123:991–999. https://doi.org/10.1001/archopht.123.7.991

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Cryotherapy for Retinopathy of Prematurity Cooperative Group (1988) Multicenter trial of cryotherapy for retinopathy of prematurity. Preliminary results. Arch Ophthalmol 106:471–479

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Adams GGW, Bunce C, Xing W et al (2017) Treatment trends for retinopathy of prematurity in the UK: active surveillance study of infants at risk. BMJ Open 7:e013366. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2016-013366

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  15. Larsen PP, Bründer M, Petrak M et al (2018) Frühgeborenenretinopathie-screening: trends über die vergangenen 5 Jahre an zwei deutschen Universitätskliniken. Der Ophthalmol 115:469–475. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00347-018-0675-3

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Holmström G, Tornqvist K, Al-Hawasi A et al (2018) Increased frequency of retinopathy of prematurity over the last decade and significant regional differences. Acta Ophthalmol 96:142–148. https://doi.org/10.1111/aos.13549

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. Fierson WM, American Academy of Pediatrics Section on Ophthalmology, American Academy of Ophthalmology, American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus, American Association of Certified Orthoptists (2013) Screening examination of premature infants for retinopathy of prematurity. Pediatrics 131:189–195. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2012-2996

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  18. Jefferies A, Canadian Paediatric Society, Fetus and Newborn Committee (2016) Retinopathy of prematurity: an update on screening and management. Paediatr Child Health 21:101–104

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Alme AM, Mulhern ML, Hejkal TW et al (2008) Outcome of retinopathy of prematurity patients following adoption of revised indications for treatment. BMC Ophthalmol 8:23. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2415-8-23

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  20. Quinn GE, Barr C, Bremer D et al (2016) Changes in course of retinopathy of prematurity from 1986 to 2013: comparison of three studies in the United States. Ophthalmology 123:1595–1600. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ophtha.2016.03.026

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  21. Ziakas NG, Cottrell DG, Milligan DW et al (2001) Regionalisation of retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) screening improves compliance with guidelines: an audit of ROP screening in the Northern Region of England. Br J Ophthalmol 85:807–810

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  22. Ludwig CA, Chen TA, Hernandez-Boussard T et al (2017) The epidemiology of retinopathy of prematurity in the United States. Ophthalmic Surg Lasers Imaging Retin 48:553–562. https://doi.org/10.3928/23258160-20170630-06

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Funding

No funding.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 2nd Department of Ophthalmology, Medical School, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, “Papageorgiou” Hospital, 56429, N.Efkarpia, Thessaloniki, Greece

    Asimina Mataftsi, Stella Moutzouri, Nikolaos Ziakas & Periklis Brazitikos

  2. 2nd Department of Neonatal Care Unit, Medical School, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece

    Paraskevi Karagianni & Vasiliki Soubasi

  3. Department of Hygiene and Epidemiology, Medical School, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece

    Anna-Bettina Haidich

Authors
  1. Asimina Mataftsi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Stella Moutzouri
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Paraskevi Karagianni
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Nikolaos Ziakas
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Vasiliki Soubasi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Periklis Brazitikos
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Anna-Bettina Haidich
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Asimina Mataftsi.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

All authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the Institutional Bioethics Committee of Medical School in Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (SEMS3/21-1-2016) and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed consent

Informed consent was part of the general informed consent parents give for the medical information concerning their infants when hospitalised in the neonatal intensive care unit.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Mataftsi, A., Moutzouri, S., Karagianni, P. et al. Retinopathy of prematurity occurrence and evaluation of screening policy in a large tertiary Greek cohort. Int Ophthalmol 40, 385–391 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10792-019-01195-5

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10792-019-01195-5

Keywords

Search

Navigation