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. 2025 Feb;45(2):208-212.
doi: 10.1038/s41372-024-02079-y. Epub 2024 Jul 30.

The impact of a multidisciplinary intervention to reduce severe retinopathy of prematurity in Kampala, Uganda

Victoria Nakibuuka  1 , Yvonne E Vaucher  2 , Lucy Namakula  1 , Sarah Kasozi  1 , Jason Zhang  3 , Anna L Ells  4 , Mike P Blair  3   5 , Sherwin J Isenberg  6 , Scott R Lambert  7 , Sarah H Rodriguez  8
Affiliations

The impact of a multidisciplinary intervention to reduce severe retinopathy of prematurity in Kampala, Uganda

Victoria Nakibuuka et al. J Perinatol. 2025 Feb.

Abstract

Background: To address the threat of retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), the Stop Infant Blindness in Africa (SIBA) project introduced a comprehensive program, including subspecialty training and oxygen management equipment.

Methods: A before-and-after retrospective cohort study compared preterm infants < 1750 g or < 34 weeks' gestation before (2022) and after (2023) program implementation. Outcomes included: the proportion with severe ROP, the proportion with Zone III vascularization on first examination, and factors associated with severe ROP.

Results: Overall, 140 infants were screened before and 122 after program implementation. The proportion with Zone III vascularization increased from 16.1% (N = 11) pre-intervention to 44.9% (N = 32) post-intervention (p = 0.001). The proportion with severe ROP decreased from 27.8% (N = 19) to 12.8% (N = 9, p = 0.03). Factors predicting severe ROP on adjusted analyses were gestational age and blood transfusion.

Conclusion: In SSA, introduction of a comprehensive program to prevent and treat ROP can decrease the risk of severe ROP.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests. Ethics approval and consent to participate: Both verbal and written informed consent was obtained from parents/guardians using their preferred English or local Luganda languages for the study. IRB approval was obtained from the St Francis Hospital Nsambya Institutional research board and the National Research Board (IRB SFHN-2022-54). This research is in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki.

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