Abstract
Little is known about the factors determining the variability in response of developing retinal vessels to oxidant stress which is seen in individual premature and (rarely) in term infants.RLF fails to occur in some infants in spite of much oxygen exposure. It can occur in the absence of oxygen treatment. That genetic factors are important is emphasized by an instance of RLF seen by the authors involving a term infant never treated with oxygen whose older sibling, identical in appearance and also born without complications at term, also had severe RLF.
Pregnancy complications which necessitate fetal adjustment to chronic low-grade hypoxia appear also to predispose to RLF as evidenced by the table below. Pregnancy complications included fetal growth retardation, moderate to severe toxemia, severe maternal diabetes or anemia, second or third trimester bleeding requiring treatment, heavy cigarette smoking, ruptured fetal membranes with amnionitis or exceeding 6 days.
77 Infants with Birth Weight <1750 gm born Feb.′77 to Nov.′77
11 of 22 RLF infants received no oxygen in the nursery 7 of the 22 RLF infants as compared to 8 of the 51 No RLF infants were undergrown
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Johnson, L., Schaffer, D., Blesa, M. et al. 981 FACTORS PREDISPOSING TO RLF-COMPLICATIONS OF PREGNANCY. Pediatr Res 12 (Suppl 4), 527 (1978). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-197804001-00987
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-197804001-00987
