The Incidence of Treatment-Requiring Retinopathy of Prematurity in Greece: A Multicenter Prospective Cohort Study.

Purpose: To report the incidence of treatment-requiring retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) in Greece at a national level.

Methods: Multicenter prospective cohort study of infants that required treatment for ROP at any unit in Greece between June 1, 2020, and May 31, 2021. Twelve out of the 13 invited centers contributed their data. Collected parameters included infants' demographics, ROP examination findings prior to treatment, and treatment characteristics.

Results: The overall incidence of treatment-requiring ROP (TR-ROP) was 3.8%, given the fact that 1133 live births of infants with GA <32 weeks and/or BW < 1501 g were reported during the study period. Median (range) gestational age and birth weight of treated infants were 26.9 (23.4-33.0) weeks and 850 (500-2370) g, respectively, and 55.8% were male. The most prevalent ROP severity among treated infants was type 1 ROP (70 eyes), followed by type 2 ROP (8 eyes) and aggressive ROP (6 eyes). Laser photocoagulation (69.8%) was the predominant treatment modality used vs intravitreal anti-VEGF injections (30.2%). The median postnatal age at initial treatment was 9.6 weeks (range 5.6-21.7). Re-treatment rate was 30.2% and was higher among infants treated with anti-VEGF (69.2%) vs laser (13.3%). Treatment failure was reported in one case (progression to stage 4B in one eye and stage 5 in the other), whereas ROP regressed in all other patients.

Conclusion: This is the first study to report TR-ROP incidence in Greece, treated infants' characteristics at a national level, preferred practice patterns, failure rate and recurrence rate at 6 months from initial treatment.