Objective: To analyze risk factors in retinopathy of prematurity (ROP). Patients and Methods: Four hundred forty-seven surviving very-low-birth-weight infants (birth weight ≤1,500 g) were enrolled in a retrospective study. Clinical data underwent multivariate analysis using stepwise logistic forward regression. Results: For 402 of the babies a complete dataset of 38 possible risk factors was available. Multivariate analysis showed 10 factors to be independently significant variables. Low birth weight, low gestational age, artificial ventilation for more than 7 days, high volume of blood transfusion and surfactant therapy were risk factors associated with higher rates of ROP. Necrotizing enterocolitis, maternal pre-eclampsia, lung maturation by antepartum betamethasone application, vitamin E and phototherapy were accompanied by a lower incidence of ROP. Conclusions: This study confirms several risk factors recognized by previous statistical analysis. In addition, this study reveals maternal pre-eclampsia, which is associated with chronic intrauterine stress, as a statistically independent factor and as having an influence on the incidence of ROP.

Keywords:
Retinopathy of prematurity, Preterm infants, Very-low-birth-weight infants, Risk factors, Multivariate statistical analysis
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2000
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