Comparison of United Kingdom and United States screening criteria for detecting retinopathy of prematurity in Hong Kong

Introduction: We examined whether the United criteria are more appropriate for retinopathy of terms of sensitivity for detecting type 1 ROP and the number of infants requiring screening.Methods: In this retrospective cohort study, we reviewed the medical records of all infants who underwent ROP screening from 2009 to 2018 at a tertiary hospital in Hong Kong. During this period, all infants born at gestational age (GA) <_31 weeks and 6 days or birth weight (BW) <1501 g (ie, the We determined the number of infants requiring screening and the number of type 1 ROP cases that would have been missed if the US screening criteria (GA <_30 weeks & 0 days or BW <_1500 g) had been used.Results: Overall, 796 infants were screened using the UK screening criteria. If the US screening criteria had been used, the number of infants requiring screening would have decreased by 21.1%; all type 1 ROP cases would have been detected (38/38, 100% sensitivity). Of the 168 infants who would not have been screened using the US screening criteria,only four of them (2.4%) had developed ROP (all maximum stage 1 only).Conclusion: In our population, the use of the US screening criteria could reduce the number of infants screened without compromising sensitivity for the detection of type 1 ROP requiring treatment. We suggest narrowing the GA criterion for consistency with the US screening criteria during ROP screening in Hong Kong.