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

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.