Who is at risk?

There are two critical factors for predicting which children are most likely to develop retinopathy of prematurity (ROP):

-Birth weight of less than 3 lbs 5 oz.
-Birth after a pregnancy of less than 32 weeks.

Infants weighing less than 2 lbs 3 oz. at birth and born after a pregnancy of 23 to 28 weeks have a particularly high chance of developing retinopathy of prematurity. The lower the birth weight and gestational age, the higher the risk and severity of ROP.