Clinical effects of the 2021 update of the Turkish retinopathy of prematurity guideline

OpenAlex İngilizce

PURPOSE: This study aims to assess the impact of the 2021 update of the Turkish Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP) Guidelines within a tertiary care university clinic. METHODS: A retrospective evaluation was conducted on the medical records of premature infants (n = 366) who underwent ROP screening between September 2021 and June 2024 and attended regular follow-up visits. Among these infants, 217 (59.28%) met the previously established ROP screening criteria. A comprehensive analysis was performed on a dataset of 149 (40.71%) additional screenable premature infants (gestational age > 32 weeks and birth weight > 1500 g) according to the revised criteria. RESULTS: A total of 149 patients were included in the study. Among these patients, 65 (43.6%) were female and 84 (56.4%) were male. The mean gestational age was 33.85 ± 1.17 weeks, and the mean birth weight was 2051.07 ± 399.63 g. During the follow-up period, 17 patients (11.4%) developed ROP, with four patients (2.7%) exhibiting treatment-requiring ROP. The mean gestational age at delivery for patients who developed ROP was 33.70 ± 1.24 weeks, and their mean birth weight was 2155.65 ± 368.75 g. No significant differences were observed between these patients and those who did not develop ROP (p = 0.627, p = 0.521, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: The recent update to the Turkish ROP guideline has the potential to increase the incidence of screening among infants by up to 68.6%. However, the finding that 2.7% of screened infants developed treatment-requiring ROP underscores the importance of this guideline update.