Association of maternal hypertensive disorders with retinopathy of prematurity: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUD: The role of maternal hypertensive disorders in pregnancy (HDP) in the development of retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) is unclear.

METHODS: Studies were retrieved through literature searches in PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science and the Cochrane Library up to May 5, 2016 without language restrictions. Cohort or case-control studies that reported the association of maternal hypertensive disorders and retinopathy of prematurity were eligible. Either a fixed- or a random-effects model was used to calculate the overall combined risk estimates.

RESULTS: Thirteen cohort studies involving a total of 45082 individuals were included in the review. The pooled odds ratios of maternal hypertensive disorders in pregnancy for any stage and severe stages of ROP was 1.12 (95%CI: 0.90-1.40) and 0.80 (95%CI: 0.47-1.35), respectively. Sensitivity analyses confirmed that no single study qualitatively influenced the pooled OR. However, substantial heterogeneity and publication bias were observed in the meta-analysis.

CONCLUSIONS: Additional larger, prospective and well-adjusted studies are needed to determine the association between HDP and ROP, especially regarding the effects of different types of maternal hypertensive disorders in pregnancy on retinopathy of prematurity.