Dr. RITESH VERMA

Dr. MANISHA RATHI, Prof.Dr. SUMIT SACHDEVA, Dr.Satvir Singh

Abstract

Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) is an avoidable cause of childhood blindness if managed promptly. Herein, we present data from ROP clinic of a tertiary care hospital in northern India, during the COVID-19 pandemic. The data for the months of March, April and May 2020 was compared to the previous year average and analysed in regard to the number of babies screened, lost to follow up, lasered and anti-VEGF administered for ROP. The mean number of inborn babies screened during the three months was 37.5±28.4 as compared to previous year mean of 49.5±22.2. There was a significant drop in the number of babies referred for screening with only 5 outborn babies screened in the month of April. The number of laser procedures performed did not decline during this period. No anti-VEGF injection was performed during this period as compared to an average of 3 injections per month for the previous year. A detailed analysis of inborn vs outborn babies in regards to follow up will be presented.