prevalence and outcomes of retinopathy of premature neonates in iran: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Background: retinopathy of prematurity (rop) is a disease in the retina of premature infants, which is one of the preventable causes of blindness in children.methods: the present study is performed with the purpose of determining the prevalence and outcomes of rop in iran through a systematic review and meta-analysis.study design: all original published articles on the prevalence of rop in premature infants in iran were included in the study. on the other hand, intervention articles, meta-analysis, case reports, congress articles, medical dissertations, and articles with low quality were excluded from the study.results: 53 articles were included in the meta-analysis stage. based on the results, the overall prevalence of rop in iran was 22.2% (95% ci: 18.5-26.5); the overall prevalence of the disease in zone i was 10.5% (95% ci: 3.0-30.6), the overall prevalence of the disease was 45.5% (95% ci: 33.8-57.8) in zone ii, and 43.8% (95% ci: 25.1-64.4) in zone iii. regarding the stage of the disease, rate of 39.9% (95% ci: 29.2–51.7) was reported in stage i, rate of 30.3% (95% ci: 21.8–40.5) in stage ii, and 14.9% (95% ci: 11.0 -19.9) in stage iii.conclusion: considering the high prevalence of rop in premature infants in iran, it is suggested to take necessary preventive measures in this field.