The cost of neonatal care: reviewing the evidence.

Abstract

I have not done justice to the considerable amount of research that has been reported on the costs and economics of neonatal care. However, I can draw a few conclusions from this review. In spite of difference in methods, there is consistency between studies in the picture of the cost of providing neonatal care, and the relationship between costs for different groups of babies. I have reported the costs for very low birthweight babies requiring intensive care. Several authors have commented that more than half the workload in a neonatal unit is taken up by care of bigger babies and recovering survivors of neonatal intensive care. There is very little evidence about the costs of care of these babies, especially those that do not require intensive care or surgery. There is, however, increasing interest in the question of appropriate admission and discharge policies for NICUs. I have shown that the economics of NICU care may have been changed by the introduction of surfactant and by the wider use of antenatal corticosteroids.