Antenatal risk factors for retinopathy of premature

Abstract

This literature review presents the antenatal risk factors for the development of retinopathy of prematurity (ROP). Despite advances in antenatal and neonatal therapeutic interventions, screening, and follow-up, ROP remains a potentially vision-threatening retinopathy that requires careful monitoring and timely intervention to prevent the progression of adverse visual impairment or blindness. ROP is a multifactorial disease. The main risk factors are low gestational age and low birth weight. Recent experimental and clinical data support the hypothesis that multiple antenatal factors are involved in the etiology and progression of ROP. These factors include the age of the mother, maternal diseases, pregnancy-associated maternal pathologies, use of drugs to correct these conditions, and inflammatory process. Their roles are ambiguous and often contradictory. The physiology of the mother and placenta can significantly influence the risk of ROP development in preterm infants. The placenta connects the mothers body and the fetus, and it functions in the exchange of nutrients and oxygen between the mother and the fetus. Therefore, any pathological changes in the mothers body entail changes in the placenta, which this directly affects the fetus. A sudden loss of placental support is detrimental to the development of infants in the immediate postnatal period. Thus, these factors should be taken into account when assessing the risk of ROP development to predict and prevent poor vision in children.