title: Amount of Antenatal Care Days in a Context of Effective Regionalization of Very Preterm Deliveries.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the amount of antenatal care days in level III hospitals caused by regionalization of very preterm deliveries.
  
  
  METHODS
  We included all 171,997 pregnancies registered in Finland between January 1, 2004 and December 31, 2006. Data on deliveries from the Medical Birth Register were linked to the Hospital Discharge Register. Maternal zip codes were used to define whether a mother lived inside or outside a level III hospital region. Regionalization was defined as care in level III hospitals between gestational weeks 22 and 32 among mothers living outside level III hospital regions. Pregnancies were divided into 3 groups based on the gestational age at delivery: very preterm (<32 weeks), late preterm (32-36 weeks), and term (≥37 weeks).
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were 12,354 antenatal care days in level III hospitals caused by regionalization, which amounts to a need for 12 antenatal maternal beds annually. In the very preterm pregnancies, the antenatal length of stay was comparable for mothers living inside or outside level III hospital regions (median 4 days, P = .81) but significantly longer for mothers living outside level III hospital regions in the late preterm (median 9 vs 7 days, P = .001) and term groups (median 3 vs 2 days, P < .0001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The costs of regionalization of very preterm deliveries were low, as measured by antenatal care days. Regionalization did not increase the antenatal length of stay in very preterm deliveries.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Turku University Hospital, Turku, Finland; Faculty of Medicine, University of Turku, Turku, Finland. Electronic address: kkhele@utu.fi.
authors.forename: Kjell
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Helenius
authors.affiliation: Children's Hospital, Helsinki University Hospital and University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland; Stanford University, Cardiovascular Institute, Stanford, CA.
authors.forename: Emmi
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Helle
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Turku University Hospital, Turku, Finland; Faculty of Medicine, University of Turku, Turku, Finland.
authors.forename: Liisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Lehtonen
mesh_terms: D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration; D036861:Delivery, Obstetric; D005260:Female; D005387:Finland; D006761:Hospitals; D006801:Humans; D062071:Infant, Extremely Premature; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D011247:Pregnancy; D047928:Premature Birth; D011295:Prenatal Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*