Original ArticleRelationships between Maternal Ethnicity, Gestational Age, Birth Weight, Weight Gain, and Severe Retinopathy of Prematurity
Section snippets
Methods
A retrospective observational study was performed at Homerton University Hospital National Health Service (NHS) Foundation Trust and Barts and the London NHS Trust. Both hospitals have tertiary neonatal units serving a high-risk, multiethnic population in northeast London. This population's country of origin is mainly the UK (60%), but significant numbers of residents have migrated from Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka (21%) and from Africa and the Caribbean (12%). The study received
Results
The number of infants eligible for ROP screening and included in the study is shown in the Figure. A common reason for incomplete weight data in 211 infants was that these infants were of higher GA and BW and were discharged from hospital before 6 weeks of age. Data on BW, GA, maternal ethnicity, and ROP treatment status for the entire cohort of 589 infants are presented in Table I. In the cohort and within each ethnic group, infants with ROP requiring treatment had lower BW and GA compared
Discussion
In our cohort, BW, GA, and early weight gain were significantly lower in infants who developed ROP requiring treatment. In addition, being born to a mother of black ethnicity was protective against the development of ROP requiring treatment. On logistic regression, BW, GA, and nonblack maternal ethnicity were significant predictors for the development of ROP requiring treatment, whereas early weight gain was marginally significant. We developed an algorithm incorporating the variables BW, GA,
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Supported by Homerton University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. The authors declare no conflicts of interest.