Myopia dominance in preterm infants without and with retinopathy of prematurity: Indian Twin Cities ROP study (ITCROPS) report number 15.

Purpose: To investigate the refractive error profile and progression in infants with different stages of ROP, without ROP, and those who received laser treatment for ROP.

Methods: This retrospective study included the data from 838 infants (baseline mean age 3.7 ± 5.4 months) who had premature birth. Among these, 433 infants had one of the stages of ROP and 405 had no ROP. Infants with ROP were sub-divided into stage 1 (n = 76), stage 2 (n = 142), and stage 3 (n = 136) and aggressive posterior ROP, (APROP, n = 79). They were further categorized into those who received treatment (n = 213) and with no treatment for ROP (n = 220). Data from a subset of 117 infants was used to assess the 1-year change in the refractive error. Myopia was defined as spherical equivalent refraction (SER) <-0.50 diopters (D). Eyes with retinal detachment were excluded.

Results: Higher percentage of myopia was found in infants with ROP (39.7%) than no-ROP (19.8%), and it increased with severity of ROP: stage 1: 19.7%, stage 2: 33.8%, stage 3: 45.6%, and 59.5% in APROP. Percentage of myopia doubled in those who underwent treatment for ROP (54.5%) compared to no-treatment group (25.5%). Mean (± SEM) change in SER after 1 year was significantly greater in infants with APROP -4.55 ± 1.38 D and stage 3 ROP -2.28 ± 0.57 D compared to other stages and no-ROP.

Conclusion: Myopia was found to be more prevalent in preterm infants in general, and more in the presence of ROP. Preterm infants without or with any form of ROP, particularly those with severe form of ROP and those who received treatment require meticulous periodic refractive error assessment.