[Retinopathy of prematurity: incidence, severity and outcome].

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the incidence, severity and outcome of retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) in neonates with birth weights of less than 1,501 g in our environment.

Methods: A prospective study of infants with birth weights of less than 1,501 g was performed from January 1999 to June 2000. One hundred seventy-eight infants were enrolled in the study. Mean gestational age was 29.8 2.9 weeks and mean birth weight was 1,095 261.5 g.

Results: Overall, 52 infants (29.2 %) developed ROP, of which 10 (5.6 %) presented threshold ROP requiring treatment. None of the infants with a gestational age of more than 30 weeks and a birth weight of more than 1,250 g presented severe retinopathy.

Conclusions: The incidence found in the present study is similar to that of other studies. Immaturity is the most significant risk factors for the development of ROP. The results of our study led us to change our screening program to detect all threshold ROP.