Background Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) is the leading cause of preventable blindness in infants. Advanced neonatal care in a country like Kuwait results in better survival of even extremely low birth weight infants.

Methods The study was conducted at the neonatal intensive care unit of Jahra Hospital, Kuwait. Charts of babies who were screened for ROP from September 2006 to August 2007 were reviewed. All babies ⩽1500 gms and or ⩽34 wks were screened.

Results 220 infants were screened for ROP. 209 infants were included in the study. Others had incomplete follow up. There were 110 (52.6%) male and 99 (47.4%) female babies. The average birth weight was 903.06 g (range: 494 to 1667 g). The average gestational age 29.8 weeks (range: 25 to 35 weeks). ROP developed in 89 (42.6%) babies. The average birth weight of babies developing ROP was 823 g (range: 494 to 1538 g). The average birth weight of babies not developing ROP was 1017 g (range: 765 to 1667 g). The average gestational age of babies developing ROP was 27.4 weeks (range: 25 to 34 weeks). The average age of babies not developing ROP was 31.7 weeks (range: 25 to 35 weeks). Laser photocoagulation was needed in 11 babies. This is 12.35% of babies who developed any stage of ROP and 5.26% of total screened babies. One baby had an adverse structural outcome.

Conclusions Our study shows incidence and risk factors of ROP similar to developed countries. Results of treatment show that incidence of adverse outcome is low in our series.