INCIDENCE OF RETROLENTAL FIBROPLASIA IN A NEW YORK NURSERY

Abstract

SOURCE OF MATERIAL A TWO-YEAR study of the incidence of retrolental fibroplasia was conducted in the premature nursery of the Babies Hospital. The ocular fundi of every surviving prematurely born infant who was admitted to the nursery were examined ophthalmoscopically at least once every week. From Dec. 15, 1949, to Dec. 15, 1951, 437 infants were admitted to the nursery. One hundred forty infants died within seven days of admission. Seventeen infants died between 7 and 84 days after admission, and 5 of these 17 infants had retrolental fibroplasia which was recognized clinically before their death. Two hundred eighty infants were discharged from the nursery alive. In 75 of these children who lived retrolental fibroplasia developed, of whom 19 were left with serious involvement of one or both eyes. All infants born in Sloane Hospital (obstetrical unit of Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center) weighing 2,000 gm. or less at birth (189 babies)