Retinopathy of prematurity in a Danish county. Trends over the 12-year period 1982-93.

An analysis of the ophthalmic recordings from the pre-term infants born 1991-93 considered at risk of developing retinopathy of prematurity is added to three previous 3-year clinical surveys from the same Danish county. Out of the 203 subjects of the recent study 34 showed evidence of retinopathy of prematurity. In 27 the maximum retinopathy of prematurity stage was 1 or 2 prior to regression. Out of the seven subjects with stage 3, one progressed to bilateral blindness in spite of the cryotherapy given in this single case. Comparing with the four retinopathy of prematurity-blind born 1982-84, the trend over the 12 years appears to be towards a better overall ophthalmic outcome. Along with an increasing number of survivors of the low GA/BW groups, the retinopathy of prematurity percentage has shown a decline, and apparently with less serious sequelae. Together with other Danish experience, eventually the present data may lead to lower screening limits for retinopathy of prematurity regarding GA/BW. Prior to this, however, there should be support from the case data currently collected in the compulsory Danish register of visually impaired children. Hence our present basic recommendation is that gestational ages up to (and including) 31 full weeks qualify for serial eye examination.