Trends in the Initial Treatment for Retinopathy of Prematurity in the United States. | ScholarDeck

Paper

Trends in the Initial Treatment for Retinopathy of Prematurity in the United States.

New research · Ophthalmology

Ophthalmic surgery, lasers & imaging retina · 1mo

Cross-sectionalOphthalmic surgery, lasers & imaging retina· Jul 2026

Trends in the Initial Treatment for Retinopathy of Prematurity in the United States.

Charles Zhang, Sinan Ersan, Joaquin A Sosa-Lockward … Audina M Berrocal

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Pediatric OphthalmologyCross-sectionalQ2IF 0.9

Laser therapy remains the most common initial treatment for retinopathy of prematurity in the US

Trends in the Initial Treatment for Retinopathy of Prematurity in the United States.

Charles Zhang … Audina M Berrocal

Ophthalmic surgery, lasers & imaging retina · Jul 2026 · Q2 in Ophthalmology

Background

The aim of this study was to characterize trends in choice of initial therapy for retinopathy of prematurity (retinopathy of prematurity) in the United States.

Methods

This is a cross-sectional time-series analysis on infants diagnosed with retinopathy of prematurity categorized by initial treatment modality (laser photocoagulation/cryotherapy or intravitreal injection).

n = 2,050 infants

Results

laser stayed the go-to treatment even as newer eye injections became more common

More results

A total of 2,050 infants met inclusion criteria.

Bevacizumab decreased from 100% of all intravitreal injections to 76.7% ( P < .0001).

Aflibercept use increased from 0% to 18.8% ( P < .0001).

More results

White infants were more likely to be treated with intravitreal anti-VEGF than Black or Hispanic infants ( P = .0061).

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Conclusion

The rates of anti-VEGF for initial treatment have been rising over the years; however, laser photocoagulation remains the most common treatment for retinopathy of prematurity in the United States.

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