Accuracy of the postnatal growth and retinopathy of prematurity screening criteria in predicting prethreshold retinopathy of prematurity in the tertiary hospital, Bangkok, Thailand.

Purpose: The postnatal growth and retinopathy of prematurity (G-ROP), retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) predictive model, was developed in North America with high sensitivity and fewer infants examined. This study aimed to validate this model in Thai infants by assessing sensitivity and comparing it to the current American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) screening guideline.

Materials and methods: The records of infants screened for ROP were retrospectively reviewed from 2015 to 2020. G-ROP model was applied to calculate sensitivity for prethreshold type 1 and 2 ROP and the reduction of the number of infants examined.

Results: Of 129 infants screened, there were 102 infants who met G-ROP criteria. The mean gestational age at birth was 29.7 ± 2.7 weeks. The mean birth weight was 1177.8 ± 401.3 g. Both G-ROP and AAO detected prethreshold type 1 ROP in 24 of 24 infants (sensitivity, 100%; 95% confidence interval [CI], 85.8%-100%). Furthermore, they detected all four infants prethreshold type 2 ROP with 100% of sensitivity (95% CI, 39.8-100.0). The reduction in infants receiving examinations using G-ROP was 20.9%.

Conclusions: G-ROP model provided high sensitivity and lessen unnecessary examinations for ROP screening in Thai infants.