Determination and comparison of the urinary iodine levels of premature infants with and without retinopathy of prematurity

Objective: Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP). which is one of the leading reasons for preventable childhood blindness worldwide. is a retinal vasoproliferative disease and frequently found in prematurely born infants. The aim of this study is to determine and compare the urinary iodine levels of premature infants with and without ROP in Erzurum, Turkey. Materials and methods: 25 premature infants (18 males and 7 females) without ROP diagnosis as a control group and 21 premature infants (8 males and 13 females) diagnosed with ROP were included in this study. In the morning spot urine samples, the Sandell-Kolthoff reaction was used to determine the concentration of iodine. The characteristics (gestational age (GA). height (H), birth weight (BW), head circumference (HC)) and serum thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) and free thyroxine (FT4) levels of premature infants with and without ROP were determined. Results: There was a significant difference between the values of BW (p < 0.001). GA (p = 0.011), and HC (p = 0.037) of premature infants with and without ROP. While the mean urinary iodine level of premature infants with ROP was 3.68 +/- 1.61 mu g/dL, the mean urinary iodine level of premature infants without ROP was 16.58 +/- 1.79 mu g/dL. Our results showed that the urinary iodine level of premature infants with ROP was lower than that of premature infants without ROP (p < 0.001). Conclusion: The deficiency of iodine in premature infants may be a risk factor for the development of ROP.