Lay summary
Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) is a blinding retinal disorder of the premature infant. Aotearoa’s current ROP screening has high sensitivity but low specificity, with increasing resource and economic costs. Māori infants are disproportionally affected due to higher rates of prematurity, yet there is a lack of research into the epidemiology. Dr Helen Kearns is a non-vocational ophthalmology registrar of Māori descent, strongly interested in Māori health equity and paediatric ophthalmic conditions. She aims to retrospectively analyse; (a) current screening and treatment burden of ROP, (b) the epidemiology of ROP in Māori infants, and (c) retrospectively validate the postnatal growth and retinopathy of prematurity screening criteria (G-ROP) in an Auckland population. It will have valuable healthcare economic and clinical implications, improving the specificity and efficacy of ROP screening and providing foundational knowledge on the burden of ROP in Māori infants, paving the way for culturally safe and equitable outcomes in ROP.