Cost of Follow-Up Care for Prematures

摘要

The research project focused upon the long-term outcome of neonatal intensive care. The need for additional medical services, along with resultant increased costs, were investigated for neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) graduates. The study design involved following total cohorts of children in one community throughout the preschool years. Community-wide databases on all children (register of birth certificates) and all in-patient utilization by children (register of all child admissions in the community) were examined. Ambulatory utilization of a sample of children who graduated from an NICU was compared to that of matched controls. Perinatal morbidity as measured by ICU admission definitely increased the probability of later readmissions, but the impact on readmissions diminished with age, and only severe perinatal morbidity had this effect. During the first three years of life, the increase in later readmissions was 150%. For the fourth and fifth years of life, the increase was about 70-80%, and for the sixth and seventh years, the impact appeared to have vanished.