AUTHOR=Rolnitsky Asaph , Unger Sharon , Urbach David , Bell Chaim M. 

TITLE=The price of neonatal intensive care outcomes – in-hospital costs of morbidities related to preterm birth

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Pediatrics

VOLUME=Volume 11 - 2023

YEAR=2023

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/pediatrics/articles/10.3389/fped.2023.1068367

DOI=10.3389/fped.2023.1068367

ISSN=2296-2360

ABSTRACT=Background: 
Neonatal care for preterm babies is prolonged and expensive. Our aim was to analyze and report costs associated with common preterm diagnoses during NICU stay.

Methods:
We analyzed data from the Ontario healthcare data service. Diagnoses were collated by discharge ICD codes, and categorized by gestational age. We calculated typical non parametric statistics, and for each diagnosis we calculated median shifts and generalized linear mode.

Results:
We included data on 12,660 infants between 23-30 weeks gestation in 2005-2017. Calculated cost increment with diagnosis were: Intestinal obstruction: $94,738.08 (95%CI: $70,093.3, $117,294.2),  Ventriculoperitoneal shunt: $86,456.60 (95%CI: $60,773.7, $111,552.2), Chronic Lung Disease $77,497.70 (95%CI: $74,937.2, $80,012.8), Intestinal perforation $57,997.15 (95%CI:$45,324.7, $70,652.6), Retinopathy of Prematurity: $55,761.80 (95%CI: $53,916.2, $57,620.1), Patent Ductus Arteriosus $53,453.70 (95%CI: $51,206.9, $55692.7, Post-haemorrhagic ventriculomegaly $41,822.50 (95%CI: $34,590.4, $48,872.4), Necrotizing Enterocolitis $39,785 (95%CI: $35,728.9, $43,879), Meningitis $38,871.85 (95%CI: $25,272.7, $52,224.4), Late onset sepsis $32,954.20 (95%CI: $30,403.7, 35.515), Feeding difficulties $24,820.90 (95%CI: $22,553.3, $27,064.7), Pneumonia $23,781.70 (95%CI: $18,623.8, $28,881.6), Grade >2 Intraventricular Haemorrhage $14,777.38 (95%CI: $9,821.7, $20,085.2). Adjusted generalized linear model of diagnoses as coefficients for cost confirmed significance and robustness of the model.

Conclusion:
Cost of care for preterm infant is expensive, and significantly increases with prematurity complication. Interventions to reduce those complications may enable resource allocation and better understanding of the needs of the neonatal health services.