Incidence of retinopathy of prematurity in multiple pregnancies conceived naturally and by assisted-reproduction techniques

Abstract

Objective: To determine the incidence of retinopathy of prematurity in multiple pregnancies conceived naturally and by assisted-reproduction techniques at the Centro Médico Nacional "20 de Noviembre" del Instituto de Seguridad y Servicios Sociales de los Trabajadores del Estado, from June 2008 to June 2016. Method: Observational, comparative, descriptive and retrospective study. Group 1 consisted of children conceived by assisted-reproduction techniques and Group 2 consisted of naturally conceived children.The protocol was revised and accepted by the research ethics and biosafety committees of the Centro Médico Nacional "20 de Noviembre" with file number 497.2017. Results: One hundred and eighty-four patients were included. Group 1 consisted of 90 patients (assisted reproduction) and Group 2 consisted of 94 patients. Mean gestational age for Group 1 was 32.7 weeks ± 2.12 weeks and for group 2 was 32.9 weeks ± 2.17 weeks. Average weight for group 1 was 1,673 g (σ 425) and for group 2 was 1,784 g (σ 491). There were 5 patients with retinopathy of prematurity in group 1 (5/90) and 8 patients in group 2 (8/94). Conclusions: Although it is known that multiple pregnancies increase the risk of prematurity and/or low birth weight, hence increasing the probability of developing retinopathy of prematurity, this study did not find risk differences based on the type of conception for multiple pregnancies. However, a positive association was observed for multiple pregnancies of more than two fetuses and in patients with extremely low birth weight.