Audit of a retinopathy of prematurity screening programme in the Limpopo province, South Africa

Abstract

Background: Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) is a potentially blinding disorder. South Africa (SA) has national ROP screening guidelines to aid the timely diagnosis of infants requiring treatment. Several tertiary units in SA have published data on the prevalence of ROP; however, data from some provinces are lacking. An audit of ROP screening programmes, especially in these areas, is important to determine the ROP prevalence and whether screening is based on the national criteria.

Methods: This retrospective audit included infants screened between 01 January 2019 and 30 June 2021 at a single tertiary unit in the Limpopo province, SA. The following criteria were used to identify eligible infants: birth weight (BW) < 1500 g or gestational age (GA) < 32 weeks.

Results: A total of 203 infants were screened. The mean BW and GA were 1250 grams (s.d. 239.0) and 30.4 weeks (s.d. 2.43), respectively. Nine (4.4%) infants were diagnosed with ROP and 2 (1.0%) infants required treatment. Most (95.1%,193) infants met the screening criteria. Screening was completed in 158 (77.8%) infants and 44 (22.0%) were lost to follow-up (LTFU).

Conclusion: Although eligible infants were identified based on the national criteria, a low prevalence of ROP was found among screened infants. This is likely because of lack of screening, late screening and high LTFU.

Contribution: This study shows the value and importance of auditing ROP screening programmes even in countries with national screening guidelines to identify areas for improvement.