The cost effectiveness of prenatal care.
This study uses hospital records for 7,000 births in McLennan County, Texas, during the period June 1987-July 1989 to examine the association between prenatal care and birth outcome and the implications for hospital costs of newborn infants. After controlling for a variety of maternal and birth factors, a significant relationship between prenatal care and birth outcome remained. Females who failed to receive prenatal care were almost three times as likely to have a low-birth-weight infant (weighing less than 2,500 grams) than females who did. Using an ordinary least squares (OLS) estimating equation (R2 = .24), the net expected hospital cost savings for females who received prenatal care was over $1,000.
Baylor University, Waco, TX 76798.
J W
JW
Henderson
D015984:Causality; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D003625:Data Collection; D005006:Ethnicity; D005260:Female; D006302:Health Services Research; D017722:Hospital Charges / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D017721:Hospital Costs / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000191:economics*; D006801:Humans; D007230:Infant, Low Birth Weight; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007363:Intensive Care Units, Neonatal / Q000191:economics; D016018:Least-Squares Analysis; D017533:Marital Status; D011247:Pregnancy; D011256:Pregnancy Outcome / Q000191:economics*; D011295:Prenatal Care / Q000191:economics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D013781:Texas / Q000453:epidemiology