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Litt JS, Halfon N, Msall ME, Russ SA, Hintz SR. Ensuring Optimal Outcomes for Preterm Infants after NICU Discharge: A Life Course Health Development Approach to High-Risk Infant Follow-Up. CHILDREN (BASEL, SWITZERLAND) 2024; 11:146. [PMID: 38397258 PMCID: PMC10886801 DOI: 10.3390/children11020146] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/18/2023] [Revised: 01/18/2024] [Accepted: 01/20/2024] [Indexed: 02/25/2024]
Abstract
Children born prematurely (<37 weeks' gestation) have an increased risk for chronic health problems and developmental challenges compared to their term-born peers. The threats to health and development posed by prematurity, the unintended effects of life-sustaining neonatal intensive care, the associated neonatal morbidities, and the profound stressors to families affect well-being during infancy, childhood, adolescence, and beyond. Specialized clinical programs provide medical and developmental follow-up care for preterm infants after hospital discharge. High-risk infant follow-up, like most post-discharge health services, has many shortcomings, including unclear goals, inadequate support for infants, parents, and families, fragmented service provisions, poor coordination among providers, and an artificially foreshortened time horizon. There are well-documented inequities in care access and delivery. We propose applying a life course health development framework to clinical follow-up for children born prematurely that is contextually appropriate, developmentally responsive, and equitably deployed. The concepts of health development, unfolding, complexity, timing, plasticity, thriving, and harmony can be mapped to key components of follow-up care delivery to address pressing health challenges. This new approach envisions a more effective version of clinical follow-up to support the best possible functional outcomes and the opportunity for every premature infant to thrive within their family and community environments over their life course.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jonathan S. Litt
- Division of Newborn Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA
- Department of Social and Behavioral Pediatrics, Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Neal Halfon
- Center for Healthier Children, Families, and Communities, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90024, USA; (N.H.); (S.A.R.)
- Department of Pediatrics, University of California, Los Angeles David Geffen School of Medicine, Los Angeles, CA 90024, USA
- Department of Health Policy and Management, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
- Department of Public Policy, UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
| | - Michael E. Msall
- Department of Pediatrics, Sections of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics and Kennedy Research Center on Intellectual and Neurodevelopmental Disabilities, University of Chicago Medicine, Chicago, IL 60637, USA;
| | - Shirley Ann Russ
- Center for Healthier Children, Families, and Communities, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90024, USA; (N.H.); (S.A.R.)
- Department of Pediatrics, University of California, Los Angeles David Geffen School of Medicine, Los Angeles, CA 90024, USA
| | - Susan R. Hintz
- Division of Neonatal and Developmental Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Stanford University School of Medicine, Palo Alto, CA 94305, USA;
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