Retinopathy of Prematurity: Single versus Multiple-Birth Pregnancies

Purpose: to compare the frequency and severity of retinopathy of prematurity (rop)among singleton and multiple-birth neonates referred to farabi eye hospital, tehran-iran.methods: in this retrospective study, records of 99 consecutive neonates from multiplegestationpregnancies including 68 twins, 26 triplets and 5 quadruplets who were screenedfor rop from 2002 to 2004 were reviewed. the frequency, severity and risk factorsfor rop were determined and compared to a group of single tons who were matched interms of gender, birth weight (bw), gestational age (ga), oxygen therapy, respiratorydistress syndrome, blood transfusion, sepsis and phototherapy.results: rop was present in 12.1% of multiple-birth neonates as compared to 15.1% ofsingletons (p=0.53). threshold rop was present in 6.1% of multiple-birth neonatesversus 7.1% of singletons (p=0.62). rop was detected in 60% of quadruplets versus 9.6%of twins and triplets; threshold disease was observed in 40% of quadruplets as comparedto 4.2% of twins and triplets (p<0.03). however, considering the effect of bw andga, logistic regression analysis revealed no statistically significant difference in thefrequency and severity of rop among subgroups of multiple-gestation pregnancies.conclusion: there was no significant difference between multiple-birth neonates andmatched singletons in terms of frequency and severity of rop. any apparent higher ratemay be due to independent risk factors such as low birth weight and gestational agerather than multiple pregnancies per se. screening for rop in multiple gestation birthsmay be conducted according to standard protocols applied for singletons.