Forecast period of intensive care of these enhancement and organ maturation in newborn

摘要

The present invention is directed to methods of enhancing organ maturity of premature human neonates or increasing collagen type IV formation in a living system by administering a growth factor, a gene encoding a growth factor, or an agent that increases growth factor formation to the living system under conditions effective to increase collagen type IV formation. Another aspect of the present invention relates to a method of predicting a premature human neonate's length of stay in a neonatal intensive care unit as well as the anticipated medical costs incurred during said stay by providing a sample from the premature human neonate and determining biomarkers derived from the extracellular matrix in the sample. The biomarker levels or ratios thereof in the sample are compared to a standard to ascertain the premature human neonate's length of stay in a neonatal intensive care unit as well as the anticipated medical costs incurred during said stay.