Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Jan 7;11(4):359-366.
doi: 10.4103/tjo.tjo_72_20. eCollection 2021 Oct-Dec.

Retinopathy of prematurity in Saudi Arabia: Exploring maternal risk factors

Nooran Badeeb  1 , Lina Raffa  2 , Huda AhmedHussain  3 , Dania Bamefleh  2 , Enas Mgharbil  2 , Sarah Alessa  2 , Aliaa Alamri  4 , Mohamed Albahiti  2
Affiliations

Retinopathy of prematurity in Saudi Arabia: Exploring maternal risk factors

Nooran Badeeb et al. Taiwan J Ophthalmol. .

Abstract

Purpose: Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) is a preventable blinding disorder affecting preterm infants. To date, maternal risk factors have not been studied in Saudi Arabia. This study aims to identify possible maternal risk factors for any stage and type 1 ROP.

Materials and methods: A total of 295 preterm infants screened for ROP between November 2013 and December 2018 at a Saudi Arabian tertiary-care hospital were included. We included infants with a gestational age ≤ 32 weeks and/or birth weight (BW) ≤1500 g. We analyzed 28 maternal and neonatal risk factors.

Results: The incidence of ROP at any stage and Type 1 were 31.9% and 7%, respectively. In the univariate analysis, the only maternal factor associated with any stage of ROP was spontaneous vaginal delivery (P = 0.049), but no maternal factor was an independent risk factor for type 1 ROP. Multivariate logistic regression analysis identified lower BW, lower gestational age and longer neonatal intensive care unit stay as independent risk factors for the development of ROP at any stage (P < 0.05). For Type 1 ROP, lower BW, and intraventricular hemorrhage were significant independent risk factors (P < 0.05).

Conclusion: The only maternal risk factor related to ROP was spontaneous vaginal delivery, which increased the risk of any stage of ROP. The single most predictive risk factor for any stage of ROP and Type 1 ROP was low BW. These findings emphasize the role of the obstetrician in promoting health care and modifying maternal risk factors to prevent preterm births related to a low BW.

Keywords: Birth weight; maternal; neonatal; retinopathy of prematurity; risk factor.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interests of this paper.

References

    1. Palmer EA, Flynn JT, Hardy RJ, Phelps DL, Phillips CL, Schaffer DB, et al. Incidence and early course of retinopathy of prematurity. The cryotherapy for retinopathy of prematurity cooperative Group. Ophthalmology. 1991;98:1628–40. - PubMed
    1. Al-Amro SA, Al-Kharfi TM, Thabit AA, Al-Mofada SM. Retinopathy of prematurity at a University Hospital in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Saudi Med J. 2003;24:720–4. - PubMed
    1. Amer M, Jafri WH, Nizami AM, Shomrani AI, Al-Dabaan AA, Rashid K. Retinopathy of prematurity: Are we missing any infant with retinopathy of prematurity? Br J Ophthalmol. 2012;96:1052–5. - PubMed
    1. Binkhathlan AA, Almahmoud LA, Saleh MJ, Srungeri S. Retinopathy of prematurity in Saudi Arabia: Incidence, risk factors, and the applicability of current screening criteria. Br J Ophthalmol. 2008;92:167–9. - PubMed
    1. Waheeb S, Alshehri K. Incidence of retinopathy of prematurity at two tertiary centers in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Saudi J Ophthalmol. 2016;30:109–12. - PMC - PubMed