title: Cost of neonatal intensive care for very-low-birthweight infants.
abstract: A detailed costing of the Mersey regional neonatal intensive care unit was made for 1983 (at 1984 prices) for three levels of care; costs per inpatient day were 297 pounds, 138 pounds, and 71 pounds for intensive, special, and nursery care, respectively. Regression of ungrouped patient-specific costs against birthweight showed the explanatory power of birthweight to be negligible. The average cost per very-low-birthweight (less than 1500 g) infant was 4490 pounds for a survivor and 3446 pounds for a non-survivor. A similar study elsewhere showed an almost six-fold difference in cost between survivors and non-survivors. It is postulated that medical management policy largely determines this difference and is crucial to any investigation of cost-efficiency.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Sandhu
authors.forename: R C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Stevenson
authors.forename: R W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Cooke
authors.forename: P O
authors.initials: PO
authors.lastname: Pharoah
mesh_terms: D003365:Costs and Cost Analysis; D004739:England; D006801:Humans; D007226:Infant Mortality; D007230:Infant, Low Birth Weight; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007235:Infant, Premature, Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000628:therapy; D007363:Intensive Care Units, Neonatal / Q000191:economics*; D012044:Regression Analysis