Impact of gestational age at delivery of the economics of triplet pregnancy.

摘要

OBJECTIVE: To establish the charges associated with triplet pregnancies managed at a single tertiary center, over a 5-year time period, and to evaluate the impact of prematurity on these charges. METHODS: All triplet pregnancies that reached at least 20 weeks gestation and received prenatal and neonatal care at our center from 1992 to 1996 were included. Charges for these mothers and neonates were extracted from two separate hospital billing computer systems, encompassing all inpatient, outpatient, technical, and professional charges. Linear regression was used to evaluate the relationship between gestational age at delivery and total charges. RESULTS: Fifty-five triplet pregnancies were included, resulting in the admission of 149 liveborn neonates. The median gestational age at delivery was 32.1 weeks. The mean charges per triplet mother were: