Abstract

GRUPO DE TRABAJO COLABORATIVO MULTICENTRICO. Retinopatía del prematuro en Servicios de Neonatología de Argentina. Arch. argent. pediatr. [online]. 2006, vol.104, n.1, pp.69-74. ISSN 0325-0075.

Introduction. Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) is a potentially avoidable cause of blindness and the first cause of blindness in infancy in Argentina. Sight threatening ROP can be prevented by meticulous neonatal care; blindness largely by screening programmes that identify and treat affected babies. Objective. To obtain present information on ROP epidemiology and to evaluate characteristics of neonatal care in the mayor neonatal intensive care units of Argentina. Population, material and method. A questionnaire was mailed from Ministry of Health of Argentina to 100 public health sector Neonatal Units to obtain information for 2002 on: cases of threshold ROP, characteristics of neonatal units (admissions, survival, nurse/patient and pulse oxymetry/patient ratios, O₂ analyzers, blenders) and ROP screening and treatment were observed. Results. 46 Neonatal Units provided information regarding characteristics of the units and 36 Neonatal Units reported information on treated ROP. From 4,561 survivors with birth weight less 2,000 g, 19% of babies with birth weight less 1,000 g, 6.9% of babies with 1,001-1,500 g and 1.6% of babies with 1,501-2,000 g required treatment. From 209 cases of treated ROP reported by 36 Neonatal Units, 24% had birth weight over 1,500 g (unusual babies). Missed opportunity for treatment was reported in 13 cases. Conclusion. Serious deficits in neonatal care and ROP screening were observed. As prevalence of ROP is very high and very low standards of neonatal care are being offered, urgent interventions are needed to avoid blindness by ROP.

Keywords : Retinopathy; Prematurity; Oxygen; Blindness.

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