Abstract

Study design retrospective Background: Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) remains one of the leading causes of childhood blindness worldwide. Globally, more than 50,000 children are affected with ROP. In India, nearly 500 children are estimated to be blind due to ROP every year. Aim: The study
was done to determine if there was a change in incidence and risk factors of ROP during the COVID period as during that period, Methods: A total of 196 preterm babies were screened during the COVID pandemic in the year 2020–2021 using standard precautions by the same ophthalmologist in a tertiary care
pediatric hospital Results: A total of 38 babies had type 1treatable ROP and 3 of these developed end‐stage ROP. All these presented late due to delay in getting admitted to the hospital neonatologyservices. Conclusion study highlights that the incidence of ROP increased as compared to the previous year in the pre‐COVID perioddue to delays in screening