Supervisor: Dr Narendra Aladangady
Consultant Neonatologist,
Homerton University Hospital
Honourary Senior Lecturer, Barts and the London
Background
The majority of beds on any level 3 Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) currently, are occupied by very low birth weight (VLBW, <1.5kg) infants, with prevalence of 1-2% of total life births, of which >80% survive till discharge1.
From numerous previous studies, there are many risk factors (lower gestational age and birth weight, prolonged/fluctuations in oxygen therapy, episodes of hypoxaemia, hypercarbia and hypocarbia, number of top up transfusions, sepsis, use of postnatal steroids) contributing to retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) , with the group at risk identified as those born at ≤31 weeks and /or birth weight ≤1.5kg.2,3
A recent addition to this growing list of possible contributing risk factors is hyperglycaemia in the first few weeks of life. To date there have been 3 studies which have demonstrated this possible association.
Hypothesis and Aim
Hypothesis- Severity and duration of hyperglycaemia in the first 2 weeks of life is associated with the development of ROP in VLBW infants
Aim: To determine if severity and duration of hyperglycaemia in the first 2 weeks of life is associated with the development of ROP in VLBW infants
Methods
Study Design - A retrospective cohort study.
Setting – Homerton University Hospitals NHS trust.
Study population –All babies admitted to neonatal unit weighing less than or equal to 1.5 kg or gestation age less than or equal to 31 weeks post conceptional age between 1st January 2000 and 31st December 2006 will be reviewed. Study will include case notes/ ITU charts and ROP check charts of these babies. Retinopathy is graded according to The International Classification of ROP with infants categorized by their most severe stage attained at any time of examination. Hyperglycaemia is defined as whole blood glucose of ≥8.3 mmol/l (150mg/dl) on at least two different occasions for this study.