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. 2021 Jan 14;11(1):1451.
doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-80989-z.

Nationwide incidence and treatment pattern of retinopathy of prematurity in South Korea using the 2007-2018 national health insurance claims data

Eun Hee Hong #  1 , Yong Un Shin #  1 , Gi Hwan Bae  2 , Young Jin Choi  3 , Seong Joon Ahn  1 , Lucia Sobrin  4 , Rimkyung Hong  1 , Inah Kim  5 , Heeyoon Cho  6
Affiliations

Nationwide incidence and treatment pattern of retinopathy of prematurity in South Korea using the 2007-2018 national health insurance claims data

Eun Hee Hong et al. Sci Rep. .

Abstract

The aim of this study is to investigate the nationwide incidence and treatment pattern of retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) in South Korea. Using the population-based National Health Insurance database (2007-2018), the nationwide incidence of ROP among premature infants with a gestational age (GA) < 37 weeks (GA < 28 weeks, GA28; 28 weeks ≤ GA < 37 weeks; GA28-37) and the percentage of ROP infants who underwent treatment [surgery (vitrectomy, encircling/buckling); retinal ablation (laser photocoagulation, cryotherapy)] were evaluated. We identified 141,964 premature infants, 42,300 of whom had ROP, with a nationwide incidence of 29.8%. The incidence of ROP in GA28 group was 4.3 times higher than in GA28-37 group (63.6% [2240/3522] vs 28.9% [40,060/138,442], p < 0.001). As for the 12-year trends, the incidence of ROP decreased from 39.5% (3308/8366) in 2007 to 23.5% (2943/12,539) in 2018. 3.0% of ROP infants underwent treatment (25.0% in GA28; 1.7% in GA28-37); 0.2% (84/42,300) and 2.9% (1214/42,300) underwent surgery and retinal ablation, respectively. The overall percentage of ROP infants who underwent treatment has decreased from 4.7% in 2007 to 1.8% in 2018. This first Korean nationwide epidemiological study of ROP revealed a decreased incidence of ROP and a decreased percentage of ROP infants undergoing conventional treatment during a 12-year period.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flow chart illustrating the process of creating the cohort. Premature infants with a gestational age (GA) < 37 weeks who were born between 2007 and 2018 were enrolled. GA gestational age, ROP retinopathy of prematurity.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Twelve-year trend of incidence of retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) among premature infants according to gestational age (GA) groups. The stacked bar graph above the horizontal axis indicates the annual number of premature infants of 28 weeks ≤ GA < 37 weeks, with and without ROP, and incidence of ROP (%). The stacked bar graph below the horizontal axis indicates the annual number of premature infants of GA < 28 weeks, with and without ROP, and incidence of ROP (%). The line graph indicates the annual incidence of ROP among premature infants with a GA < 37 weeks. GA gestational age, ROP retinopathy of prematurity.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Twelve-year trend of treatment in retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) according to the treatment type and gestational age (GA) groups. The annual percentage of ROP infants who underwent treatment according to the treatment type (A) and the GA groups (B) are presented. GA = Gestational age; ROP = retinopathy of prematurity.
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