Effect of Platelet Transfusion on Retinopathy of Prematurity- Hospital based Prospective Study

Abstract

Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) is an important preventable cause of blindness in developing and developed countries. Over all incidence of ROP is 66% and in 2015 ROP among low birth weight infants in India was reported to ranges between 38-51.9%.Throbocytopenia was found to be one of the important risk factor for ROP in earlier studies, as it leads to incomplete scavenging of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) which in turn results in excessive proliferation of retinal vessels. OBJECTIVE: To assess the effect of platelet transfusion in the development of retinopathy of prematurity among the preterm infants admitted in tertiary care centre.MATERIAL AND METHODOLOGY: A prospective cohort study was conducted a period of 18 months among Preterm infants’≤34 weeks who were screened for ROP. Follow up was done as per early treatment of ROP guidelines and regression/progression in the stage of ROP was monitored.RESULTS: Among 136 infants 72 were females. Very low birth weight infants predominantly contributes to 53.7% (n=73) of the study population. Mean birth weight was 1473±309 grams. The mean gestational age among the study group was 32.30 weeks±1.71. The incidence of ROP was found to be 25%. Stage 2 ROP is predominantly seen and contributes to 70.5% in ROP infants. The ROC curve of thrombocytopenia shows that with a cut off value of 30,000/micro litre specificity was 70.6% and sensitivity was 74.7%. Platelet transfusion if given for platelet count less than 40000/micro litre was found to be a protective factor in the development of ROP with an odds ratio of 3.671(95% CI, 1.215-11.097).