To evaluate the association between the occurrence and severity of retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) and postnatal weight gain.

The medical records and mean rate of postnatal weekly weight gain measurements for 275 premature infants were retrospectively reviewed. According to fundus examination findings, 275 infants were divided into the following three groups according to the international classification of ROP: Group I; infants with no ROP, Group II; infants with mild ROP (stage 1 or stage 2 with no additional disease or spontaneous regression), and Group III; infants with moderate to severe ROP (stage 3, threshold or Type I ROP according to ET-ROP). The mean rates of postnatal weekly weight gain in each group were compared and other risk factors were evaluated.

There was a tendency of decrement in the mean rate of postnatal weekly weight gain in association with the severity of the disease (Group I: 13.54 ± 11.87%; Group II: 12.38 ± 1.33%; Group III: 11.41 ± 1.70%) but no statistical significance was found. Additionally, there was no statistically significant difference between the group without ROP and the group with ROP. Significant risk factors related to ROP were low birth weight, low gestational age, low Apgar score, long duration of oxygen therapy, high incidence of respiratory distress syndrome and bronchopulmonary dysplasia.

The change in postnatal weight gain has limited usage as a main prognostic factor in predicting the progression of ROP.