Abstract

With the increasing survival of preterm and low birth weight babies in India, due to improved neonatal care and better neonatal Intensive care facilities available, incidence of Retinopathy of prematurity is increasing with more awareness of this condition among general population, pediatricians and ophthalmologists. Routine Ophthalmic checkup was advised in babies upto 1.5 kg of weight and/or below 34 weeks of gestation, however there have been cases reported of babies of weight of between 1.5 to 2.0 kg and gestational age of upto 37 weeks that have had Retinopathy of Prematurity. So, the present study helps to determine the Role of routine screening for Retinopathy of Prematurity in new born upto 2kg of weight and/or less than 37 weeks of gestation. Method: It is a clinical study of all neonates less than 2.0 kg of weight and/or less than 37 weeks of post gestational age at tertiary care center, Karad from November 2014 to may 2016. Results: Of the 120 neonates screened, 64 were males (53.33°.) and 56 were females (46.67%). Among the neonates who developed ROP. 23 were males (28.57%) and 18 were females (71 .42%). Conclusion: In our study 7 neonates with birth weight of more than 1500 gms and less than 2000gms and gestational age between 34 weeks to 37 weeks were found to have ROP which under normal screening protocols would have been missed.

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