Dr. URVASHI KALA

Dr. VANDANA SINGH

Abstract

ROP is a major cause of preventable blindness.There is increased risk of premature birth & low birth weight in multiple gestation which predisposes a neonate to develop ROP.We compared incidence & severity of ROP in multiple versus single gestation at risk neonates.Retrospective data analysis of ROP records of babies born between Oct2012-Sept2014 who met criteria for ROP screening i.e.<34 weeks of gestation,<1800gm birth weight,infants with significant risk factors including sepsis,respiratory distress syndrome or long term oxygen use; was done.Qualitative variables were corelated using chi square test.P value at 0.05 was considered significant.Total 144 neonates were screened.Incidence of any stage ROP in multiple gestation was 34.88% while in single gestation it was 27.72%.Threshold ROP was seen in 13.95% babies in multiple gestation while in single gestation it was present in 8.91% of neonates.It was concluded that multiple gestation is a risk factor for ROP incidence and severity.