Awareness of retinopathy of prematurity among pediatricians in West Bank, Palestine: a descriptive study

Abstract

BackgroundRetinopathy of prematurity (ROP) is a disorder of the developing retina of preterm infants due to defective vasculogenesis. The aim of the study was to analyze the level of awareness, knowledge, attitude and practice of pediatricians about ROP in the West Bank, Palestine.MethodsA questionnaire was designed on the knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) pattern. The questionnaire included questions about pediatrician’s educational and practicing profile, knowledge of screening guidelines, risk factors for ROP, referral facilities and barriers for referral. The questionnaire was given to70 practicing specialists and residents in hospitals having neonatal intensive care units in the West Bank, Palestine. It was a self-administered questionnaire, collected between November 2016 and February 2017.ResultsA total of 70 pediatricians from 11 different hospitals without ROP screening service participated in the study. The mean age of the participants was 33.04 ± 7.74. Of which, 62.9% were males and 37.1% were females. Fifty-nine (84.3%) answered that ROP is preventable, while 11 (15.7%) responded that ROP is not preventable. Nine (12.9%) pediatricians had no idea as to which part of the eye is affected in ROP. Among the participants, 29 (41.4%) did not know when ROP screening should be started. Sixty-three (90%) pediatricians were sure that ROP is treatable. Regarding barriers for ROP screening, ‘ophthalmologist not available’ reason was expressed by 37.1% (26/70), ‘discharge person not writing’ by 20% (14/70) and ‘parents not agreeing’ by 18.6% (13/70) of the participants. Knowledge on the use of laser as a treatment modality of ROP was shown by 39 (55.7%) participants, and the use of anti-VEGF was shown by 6 (8.6%) participants, whereas 25 (35.7%) of the participants didn’t know about the treatment modalities.ConclusionThe study findings suggest that a large majority of pediatricians were aware of ROP as a preventable disease, but had less information about ROP screening guidelines and service delivery. The study suggests the need to increase the awareness of pediatricians by dissemination of information about ROP and creating a close coordination between them and ophthalmologists to address barriers for service delivery in Palestine.

Knowledge of and attitude to eye disorders among pediatricians in North Jordan

“…A total of 75% of participants would refer a baby for ROP screening 4–6 weeks after birth or at the age of 32 weeks, whichever is later. The results are satisfactory in comparison to a study done in the West Bank by Akkawi et al, where 41.4% did not know exactly when ROP screening should be started [ 13 ].…”

Retinopathy of Prematurity as Multidisciplinary Approach, a Pediatricians Standpoint, and Practice

“…Some of the essential points in the knowledge aspect were low among most of the participants; for instance, only 24.4% of them knew the screening criteria for ROP; this criterion is fundamental in the referral of the suspected cases to the ophthalmologist, which is consistent with the results of previous studies done in other countries. 7 , 16 , 17 The screening criteria of ROP were not well known by pediatricians. Another vital piece of information was about the safe dilatation eye drops used in preterm infants, which was answered correctly by only 29.3% of respondents.…”

“…With a few modifications, the questionnaire was obtained from previously published research with similar aims. 7 , 16 , 17 It was electronically created using Google Forms and distributed to the participants as an electronic web page link sent as a text message to the participants’ phone numbers. We used a self-administer online validated knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) questionnaire, which is quoted from a previous study after taking permission from the corresponding author to preserve property rights.…”

“…They found that 15.7% of pediatricians believed ROP is not preventable, while 12.9% did not know what the affected part of the eye by the ROP is; 41.4%of the participants did not know the proper time of ROP screening. 7 A different study in India measured the level of knowledge in 83 pediatricians about ROP; the result shows that 65.1% of the respondents have good awareness about ROP; 39.8% believed that ROP is preventable; 45.8% did not know what the appropriate time to start ROP screening is. About half of them (51.8%) agreed on the ability to treat ROP.…”

Commentary: Knowledge gap among nurses related to retinopathy of prematurity and its prevention and management

“…Conducting a study among the pediatricians/neonatologists would have been a better option than the nursing staff. [ 7 8 ]…”