Cost of racial disparity in preterm birth: evidence from Michigan

Prenatal and Postnatal Disparities in Very-Preterm Infants in a Study of Infections between 2018-2023 in Southeastern US

BACKGROUND

The birthrate of Black preterm (BPT) infants is 65% higher than White preterm (WPT) infants with a BPT mortality that is 2.3 times higher. The incidence of culture-positive late-onset sepsis is as high as 41% in very-preterm infants. The main purpose of this study was to examine thermal gradients and the heart rate in relation to the onset of infection. This report presents disparities in very-preterm infection incidence, bacteria, and mortality data amongst BPT and WPT infants.

METHODS

367 preterms born at <32 weeks gestational age (GA) between 2019-2023 in five neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) were enrolled to study the onset of infections and dispositions; REDCap data were analyzed for descriptive statistics.

RESULTS

The 362 infants for analyses included 227 BPTs (63.7%) and 107 WPTs (29.6%), with 28 infants of other races/ethnicities (Hispanic, Asian, and other), 50.6% female, mean GA of 27.66 weeks, and 985.24 g birthweight. BPT infants averaged 968.56 g at birth (SD 257.50), and 27.68 (SD 2.07) weeks GA, compared to WPT infants with a mean birthweight of 1006.25 g (SD 257.77, p = 0.2313) and 27.67 (SD 2.00, p = 0.982) weeks GA. Of the 426 episodes of suspected infections evaluated across all the enrolled infants, the incidence of early-onset sepsis (EOS) was 1.9%, with BPT infants having 2.50 times higher odds of EOS than WPT infants (p = 0.4130, OR (odds ratio) = 2.50, p_or = 0.408). The overall incidence of late-onset sepsis (LOS) was 10.8%, with LOS in 11.9% of BPT infants versus 9.3% (p = 0.489, OR = 1.21, p_or = 0.637) of WPT infants. BPT infants made up 69.2% of the 39 infants with Gram-positive infections vs. 25.6% for WPT infants; 16 infants had Gram-negative culture-positive infections, with 81.2% being BPT infants versus 18.8% being WPT infants. Of the 27 urinary tract infections, 78% were in BPTs. The necrotizing enterocolitis incidence was 6.9%; the incidence in BPT infants was 7.5% vs. 6.5% in WPT infants. The overall mortality was 8.3%, with BPTs at 8.4% vs. WPT infants at 9.3%, (p = 0.6715).

CONCLUSIONS

BPTs had a higher rate of positive cultures, double the Gram-negative infections, a much higher rate of urinary tract infections, and a higher rate of mortality than their WPT counterparts. This study emphasizes the higher risk of morbidity and mortality for BPTs.

Analysis of Health Disparities in the Screening and Diagnosis of Hearing Loss: Early Hearing Detection and Intervention Hearing Screening Follow-Up Survey

PURPOSE

The purpose of this study was to (a) provide introductory literature regarding cultural constructs, health disparities, and social determinants of health (SDoH); (b) summarize the literature regarding the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (EHDI) Hearing Screening Follow-Up Survey (HSFS) data; (c) explore the CDC EHDI HSFS data regarding the contribution of maternal demographics to loss-to-follow-up/loss-to-documentation (LTF/D) between hearing screening and audiologic diagnosis for 2016, 2017, and 2018; and (d) examine these health disparities within the context of potential ethnoracial biases.

METHOD

This is a comprehensive narrative literature review of cultural constructs, hearing health disparities, and SDoH as they relate to the CDC EHDI HSFS data. We explore the maternal demographic data reported on the CDC EHDI website and report disparities for maternal age, education, ethnicity, and race for 2016, 2017, and 2018. We focus on LTF/D for screening and diagnosis within the context of racial and cultural bias.

RESULTS

A literature review demonstrates the increase in quality of the CDC EHDI HSFS data over the past 2 decades. LTF/D rates for hearing screening and audiologic diagnostic testing have improved from higher than 60% to current rates of less than 30%. Comparisons of diagnostic completion rates reported on the CDC website for the EHDI HSFS 2016, 2017, and 2018 data show trends for maternal age, education, and race, but not for ethnicity. Trends were defined as changes more than 10% for variables averaged over a 3-year period (2016-2018).

CONCLUSIONS

Although there have been significant improvements in LTF/D over the past 2 decades, there continue to be opportunities for further improvement. Beyond neonatal screening, delays continue to be reported in the diagnosis of young children with hearing loss. Notwithstanding the extraordinarily diverse families within the United States, the imperative is to minimize such delays so that all children with hearing loss can, at the very least, have auditory accessibility to spoken language by 3 months of age. Conscious awareness is essential before developing a potentially effective plan of action that might remediate the problem.

Complaints about excessive use of police force in women's neighborhoods and subsequent perinatal and cardiovascular health

There are substantial, unexplained racial disparities in women’s health. Some of the most pronounced involve elevated rates of preterm delivery (PTD) and cardiovascular disease (CVD) among Black women. We hypothesized that stress associated with excessive use of force by police may contribute to these disparities. In two prospective cohorts derived from electronic health records (pregnancy cohort, N = 67,976; CVD cohort, N = 6773), we linked formal complaints of excessive police force in patients’ neighborhoods with health outcomes. Exposed Black women were 1.19 times as likely to experience PTD [95% confidence interval (CI): 1.04 to 1.35] and 1.42 times as likely to develop CVD (95% CI: 1.12 to 1.79), even after adjustment for neighborhood disadvantage and homicide. The excess risks of PTD were also observed in maternal fixed-effects analyses comparing births to the same woman. These findings suggest police violence may be an unrecognized contributor to health inequity for Black women.

Disparities in severe neonatal morbidity and mortality between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal births in Western Australia: a decomposition analysis

BACKGROUND

The health disadvantages faced by Australian Aboriginal peoples are evidenced in early life, although few studies have focused on the reasons for population-level inequalities in more severe adverse outcomes. This study aimed to examine the scale of disparity in severe neonatal morbidity (SNM) and mortality between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal births and quantify the relative contributions of important maternal and infant factors.

METHOD

A retrospective cohort study with singleton live births (≥32 weeks' gestation) was conducted using Western Australia linked whole population datasets, from 1999 to 2015. Aboriginal status was determined based on the mothers' self-reported ethnic origin. An Australian validated indicator was adapted to identify neonates with SNM. The Oaxaca-Blinder method was employed to calculate the contribution of each maternal and infant factor to the disparity in SNM and mortality.

RESULTS

Analyses included 425 070 births, with 15 967 (3.8%) SNM and mortality cases. The disparity in SNM and mortality between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal births was 2.9 percentage points (95% CI 2.6 to 3.2). About 71% of this gap was explained by differences in modelled factors including maternal area of residence (23.8%), gestational age (22.2%), maternal age (7.5%) and antenatal smoking (7.2%).

CONCLUSIONS

There is a considerable disparity in SNM and mortality between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal births in Western Australia with the majority of this related to differences in maternal sociodemographic factors, antenatal smoking and gestational age. Public health programmes targeting these factors may contribute to a reduction in early life health differentials and benefit Aboriginal population health through the life course.

Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Birth Outcomes and Labor and Delivery Charges Among Massachusetts Women With Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities

Understanding the pregnancy experiences of racial and ethnic minority women with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) is critical to ensuring that policies can effectively support these women. This research analyzed data from the 1998-2013 Massachusetts Pregnancy to Early Life Longitudinal (PELL) data system to examine the racial and ethnic disparities in birth outcomes and labor and delivery charges of U.S. women with IDD. There was significant preterm birth disparity among non-Hispanic Black women with IDD compared to their non-Hispanic White peers. There were also significant racial and ethnic differences in associated labor and delivery-related charges. Further research, examining potential mechanisms behind the observed racial and ethnic differences in labor and delivery-related charges in Massachusetts' women with IDD is needed.

Late preterm infants - Changing trends and continuing challenges

Late preterm infants, defined as newborns born between 340/7-366/7 weeks of gestational age, constitute a unique group among all premature neonates. Often overlooked because of their size when compared to very premature infants, this population is still vulnerable because of physiological and structural immaturity. Comprising nearly 75% of babies born less than 37 weeks of gestation, late preterm infants are at increased risk for morbidities involving nearly every organ system as well as higher risk of mortality when compared to term neonates. Neurodevelopmental impairment has especially been a concern for these infants. Due to various reasons, the rate of late preterm births continue to rise worldwide. Caring for this high risk population contributes a significant financial burden to health systems. This article reviews recent trends in regarding rate of late preterm births, common morbidities and long term outcomes with special attention to neurodevelopmental outcomes.

Could maternal ethnicity be a determinant of healthcare costs for birth assistance? Insights from a retrospective hospital-based study for the implementation of a woman-centered approach in obstetrics

Background: Current policy and service provision recommend a woman-centered approach to maternity care and the development of personalized models for clinical assistance. Ethnicity has been recognized as a determinant in the risk calculation of selected obstetric complications. Based on these assumptions, our aims were to describe the linkage between baseline characteristics and maternal ethnicity and to analyze the cost for the local healthcare system, distinguishing mode of delivery, absence or presence of complications at birth, and maternal stay duration for all ethnic groups.Methods: In a 5-year period (2012-16), all women admitted for delivery at the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario "A Gemelli" IRCCS, Rome, Italy, were included in the analysis. Maternal demographics, adverse outcomes, and costs were evaluated. Economic calculations were performed by using the "diagnosis-related group" (DRG) approach.Results: A total of 18,093 patients were included in the analysis. An overall care expense of €42,663,481 was calculated. Caucasian was the main ethnicity (90.7%), with 9.3% minority groups. Vaginal delivery (VD) was the most common mode of delivery in all ethnic groups, with a global rate of 59.6%. The highest cesarean section (CS) rates were observed among Maghreb (51.5%) and Afro-Caribbean (47.8%) women. Minority groups had a doubled rate of complicated VD, primarily Afro-Caribbean women (69.9%), followed by Asian (64.1%), Maghreb (63.2%), and Latin American (62.7%) women. Afro-Caribbean women had the highest rate of complicated CS compared to the overall study population (37.6 versus 28.5%, p < .005).Conclusions: Minority groups have increased healthcare costs for birth assistance, mainly due to the higher rates of complications. In a prospective view, two strategies could be planned: first, calculating individualized risk to mitigate the clinical care charge, based on the ad hoc combination of ethnicity, mode of delivery, and obstetric complications; and second, endorsing the current financial return-on-investment opportunity tied to mitigating ethnic disparities in birth outcomes.

Preterm Birth, Inflammation and Infection: New Alternative Strategies for their Prevention

BACKGROUND

Worldwide, the progress in reducing neonatal mortality has been very slow. The rate of preterm birth has increased over the last 20 years in low-income and middle-income countries. Its association with increased mortality and morbidity is based on experimental studies and neonatal outcomes from countries with socioeconomic differences, which have considered implementing alternative healthcare strategies to prevent and reduce preterm births.

METHODS

Currently, there is no widely effective strategy to prevent preterm birth. Pharmacological therapies are directed at inhibiting myometrial contractions to prolong parturition. Some drugs, medicinal plants and microorganisms possess myorelaxant, anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory properties that have proved useful in preventing preterm birth associated with inflammation and infection.

RESULTS

This review focuses on the existing literature regarding the use of different drugs, medicinal plants, and microorganisms that show promising benefits for the prevention of preterm birth associated with inflammation and infection. New alternative strategies involving the use of PDE-4 inhibitors, medicinal plants and probiotics could have a great impact on improving prenatal and neonatal outcomes and give babies the best start in life, ensuring lifelong health benefits.

CONCLUSION

Despite promising results from well-documented cases, only a small number of these alternative strategies have been studied in clinical trials. The development of new drugs and the use of medicinal plants and probiotics for the treatment and/or prevention of preterm birth is an area of growing interest due to their potential therapeutic benefits in the field of gynecology and obstetrics.

Developing routinely recorded clinical data from electronic patient records as a national resource to improve neonatal health care: the Medicines for Neonates research programme

Background

Clinical data offer the potential to advance patient care. Neonatal specialised care is a high-cost NHS service received by approximately 80,000 newborn infants each year.

Objectives

(1) To develop the use of routinely recorded operational clinical data from electronic patient records (EPRs), secure national coverage, evaluate and improve the quality of clinical data, and develop their use as a national resource to improve neonatal health care and outcomes. To test the hypotheses that (2) clinical and research data are of comparable quality, (3) routine NHS clinical assessment at the age of 2 years reliably identifies children with neurodevelopmental impairment and (4) trial-based economic evaluations of neonatal interventions can be reliably conducted using clinical data. (5) To test methods to link NHS data sets and (6) to evaluate parent views of personal data in research.

Design

Six inter-related workstreams; quarterly extractions of predefined data from neonatal EPRs; and approvals from the National Research Ethics Service, Health Research Authority Confidentiality Advisory Group, Caldicott Guardians and lead neonatal clinicians of participating NHS trusts.

Setting

NHS neonatal units.

Participants

Neonatal clinical teams; parents of babies admitted to NHS neonatal units.

Interventions

In workstream 3, we employed the Bayley-III scales to evaluate neurodevelopmental status and the Quantitative Checklist of Autism in Toddlers (Q-CHAT) to evaluate social communication skills. In workstream 6, we recruited parents with previous experience of a child in neonatal care to assist in the design of a questionnaire directed at the parents of infants admitted to neonatal units.

Data sources

Data were extracted from the EPR of admissions to NHS neonatal units.

Main outcome measures

We created a National Neonatal Research Database (NNRD) containing a defined extract from real-time, point-of-care, clinician-entered EPRs from all NHS neonatal units in England, Wales and Scotland (n = 200), established a UK Neonatal Collaborative of all NHS trusts providing neonatal specialised care, and created a new NHS information standard: the Neonatal Data Set (ISB 1595) (see http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/±/http://www.isb.nhs.uk/documents/isb-1595/amd-32–2012/index_html; accessed 25 June 2018).

Results

We found low discordance between clinical (NNRD) and research data for most important infant and maternal characteristics, and higher prevalence of clinical outcomes. Compared with research assessments, NHS clinical assessment at the age of 2 years has lower sensitivity but higher specificity for identifying children with neurodevelopmental impairment. Completeness and quality are higher for clinical than for administrative NHS data; linkage is feasible and substantially enhances data quality and scope. The majority of hospital resource inputs for economic evaluations of neonatal interventions can be extracted reliably from the NNRD. In general, there is strong parent support for sharing routine clinical data for research purposes.

Limitations

We were only able to include data from all English neonatal units from 2012 onwards and conduct only limited cross validation of NNRD data directly against data in paper case notes. We were unable to conduct qualitative analyses of parent perspectives. We were also only able to assess the utility of trial-based economic evaluations of neonatal interventions using a single trial. We suggest that results should be validated against other trials.

Conclusions

We show that it is possible to obtain research-standard data from neonatal EPRs, and achieve complete population coverage, but we highlight the importance of implementing systematic examination of NHS data quality and completeness and testing methods to improve these measures. Currently available EPR data do not enable ascertainment of neurodevelopmental outcomes reliably in very preterm infants. Measures to maintain high quality and completeness of clinical and administrative data are important health service goals. As parent support for sharing clinical data for research is underpinned by strong altruistic motivation, improving wider public understanding of benefits may enhance informed decision-making.

Future work

We aim to implement a new paradigm for newborn health care in which continuous incremental improvement is achieved efficiently and cost-effectively by close integration of evidence generation with clinical care through the use of high-quality EPR data. In future work, we aim to automate completeness and quality checks and make recording processes more ‘user friendly’ and constructed in ways that minimise the likelihood of missing or erroneous entries. The development of criteria that provide assurance that data conform to prespecified completeness and quality criteria would be an important development. The benefits of EPR data might be extended by testing their use in large pragmatic clinical trials. It would also be of value to develop methods to quality assure EPR data including involving parents, and link the NNRD to other health, social care and educational data sets to facilitate the acquisition of lifelong outcomes across multiple domains.

Study registration

This study is registered as PROSPERO CRD42015017439 (workstream 1) and PROSPERO CRD42012002168 (workstream 3).

Funding

The National Institute for Health Research Programme Grants for Applied Research programme (£1,641,471). Unrestricted donations were supplied by Abbott Laboratories (Maidenhead, UK: £35,000), Nutricia Research Foundation (Schiphol, the Netherlands: £15,000), GE Healthcare (Amersham, UK: £1000). A grant to support the use of routinely collected, standardised, electronic clinical data for audit, management and multidisciplinary feedback in neonatal medicine was received from the Department of Health and Social Care (£135,494).

Economic consequences of preterm birth: a systematic review of the recent literature (2009-2017)

BACKGROUND

Despite extensive knowledge on the functional, neurodevelopmental, behavioural and educational sequelae of preterm birth, relatively little is known about its economic consequences.

OBJECTIVE

To systematically review evidence around the economic consequences of preterm birth for the health services, for other sectors of the economy, for families and carers, and more broadly for society.

METHODS

Updating previous reviews, systematic searches of Medline, EconLit, Web of Science, the Cochrane Library, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, Embase and Scopus were performed using broad search terms, covering the literature from 1 January 2009 to 28 June 2017. Studies reporting economic consequences, published in the English language and conducted in a developed country were included. Economic consequences are presented in a descriptive manner according to study time horizon, cost category and differential denominators (live births or survivors).

RESULTS

Of 4384 unique articles retrieved, 43 articles met the inclusion criteria. Of these, 27 reported resource use or cost estimates associated with the initial period of hospitalisation, while 26 reported resource use or costs incurred following the initial hospital discharge, 10 of which also reported resource use or costs associated with the initial period of hospitalisation. Only two studies reported resource use or costs incurred throughout the childhood years. Initial hospitalisation costs varied between $576 972 (range $111 152-$576 972) per infant born at 24 weeks' gestation and $930 (range $930-$7114) per infant born at term (US$, 2015 prices). The review also revealed a consistent inverse association between gestational age at birth and economic costs regardless of date of publication, country of publication, underpinning study design, follow-up period, age of assessment or costing approach, and a paucity of evidence on non-healthcare costs. Several categories of economic costs, such as additional costs borne by families as a result of modifications to their everyday activities, are largely overlooked by this body of literature. Moreover, the number and coverage of economic assessments have not increased in comparison with previous review periods.

CONCLUSION

Evidence identified by this review can be used to inform clinical and budgetary service planning and act as data inputs into future economic evaluations of preventive or treatment interventions. Future research should focus particularly on valuing the economic consequences of preterm birth in adulthood.

Health economic aspects of late preterm and early term birth

Despite an increasing body of knowledge on the adverse clinical sequelae associated with late preterm birth and early term birth, little is known about their economic consequences or the cost-effectiveness of interventions aimed at their prevention or alleviation of their effects. This review assesses the health economic evidence surrounding late preterm and early term birth. Evidence is gathered on hospital resource use associated with late preterm and early term birth, economic costs associated with late preterm and early term birth, and economic evaluations of prevention and treatment strategies. The article highlights the limited perspective and time horizon of most studies of economic costs in this area; the limited evidence surrounding health economic aspects of early term birth; the gaps in current knowledge; and it discusses directions for future research in this area, including the need for validated tools for measuring preference-based health-related quality-of-life outcomes in infants that will aid cost-effectiveness-based decision-making.

Race, Income and Insurance Status Affect Neonatal Sepsis Mortality and Healthcare Resource Utilization

BACKGROUND

Socioeconomic disparities negatively impact neonatal health. The influence of sociodemographic disparities on neonatal sepsis is understudied. We examined the association of insurance payer status, income, race and gender on neonatal sepsis mortality and healthcare resource utilization.

METHODS

We used the Kid's Inpatient Database, a nationwide population-based survey from 2006, 2009 and 2012. Neonates diagnosed with sepsis were included in the study. Multivariable logistic regression (mortality) and multivariable linear regression (length of stay and total hospital costs) were constructed to determine the association of patient and hospital characteristics.

RESULTS

Our study cohort included a weighted sample of 160,677 septic neonates. Several sociodemographic disparities significantly increased mortality. Self-pay patients had increased mortality (odds ratio 3.26 [95% confidence interval: 2.60-4.08]), decreased length of stay (-2.49 ± 0.31 days, P < 0.0001) and total cost (-$5015.50 ± 783.15, P < 0.0001) compared with privately insured neonates. Additionally, low household income increased odds of death compared with the most affluent households (odds ratio 1.19 [95% confidence interval: 1.05-1.35]). Moreover, Black neonates had significantly decreased length of stay (-0.86 ± 0.25, P = 0.0005) compared with White neonates.

CONCLUSIONS

This study identified specific socioeconomic disparities that increased odds of death and increased healthcare resource utilization. Moreover, this study provides specific societal targets to address to reduce neonatal sepsis mortality in the United States.

A systematic review of administrative and clinical databases of infants admitted to neonatal units

OBJECTIVES

High quality information, increasingly captured in clinical databases, is a useful resource for evaluating and improving newborn care. We conducted a systematic review to identify neonatal databases, and define their characteristics.

METHODS

We followed a preregistered protocol using MesH terms to search MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, Web of Science and OVID Maternity and Infant Care Databases for articles identifying patient level databases covering more than one neonatal unit. Full-text articles were reviewed and information extracted on geographical coverage, criteria for inclusion, data source, and maternal and infant characteristics.

RESULTS

We identified 82 databases from 2037 publications. Of the country-specific databases there were 39 regional and 39 national. Sixty databases restricted entries to neonatal unit admissions by birth characteristic or insurance cover; 22 had no restrictions. Data were captured specifically for 53 databases; 21 administrative sources; 8 clinical sources. Two clinical databases hold the largest range of data on patient characteristics, USA's Pediatrix BabySteps Clinical Data Warehouse and UK's National Neonatal Research Database.

CONCLUSIONS

A number of neonatal databases exist that have potential to contribute to evaluating neonatal care. The majority is created by entering data specifically for the database, duplicating information likely already captured in other administrative and clinical patient records. This repetitive data entry represents an unnecessary burden in an environment where electronic patient records are increasingly used. Standardisation of data items is necessary to facilitate linkage within and between countries.

Economic costs associated with moderate and late preterm birth: a prospective population-based study

OBJECTIVE

We sought to determine the economic costs associated with moderate and late preterm birth.

DESIGN

An economic study was nested within a prospective cohort study.

SAMPLE

Infants born between 32(+0) and 36(+6)  weeks of gestation in the East Midlands of England. A sample of infants born at ≥37 weeks of gestation acted as controls.

METHODS

Data on resource use, estimated from a National Health Service (NHS) and personal social services perspective, and separately from a societal perspective, were collected between birth and 24 months corrected age (or death), and valued in pounds sterling, at 2010-11 prices. Descriptive statistics and multivariable analyses were used to estimate the relationship between gestational age at birth and economic costs.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

Cumulative resource use and economic costs over the first two years of life.

RESULTS

Of all eligible births, 1146 (83%) preterm and 1258 (79%) term infants were recruited. Mean (standard error) total societal costs from birth to 24 months were £12 037 (£1114) and £5823 (£1232) for children born moderately preterm (32(+0) -33(+6)  weeks of gestation) and late preterm (34(+0) -36(+6)  weeks of gestation), respectively, compared with £2056 (£132) for children born at term. The mean societal cost difference between moderate and late preterm and term infants was £4657 (bootstrap 95% confidence interval, 95% CI £2513-6803; P < 0.001). Multivariable regressions revealed that, after controlling for clinical and sociodemographic characteristics, moderate and late preterm birth increased societal costs by £7583 (£874) and £1963 (£337), respectively, compared with birth at full term.

CONCLUSIONS

Moderate and late preterm birth is associated with significantly increased economic costs over the first 2 years of life. Our economic estimates can be used to inform budgetary and service planning by clinical decision-makers, and economic evaluations of interventions aimed at preventing moderate and late preterm birth or alleviating its adverse consequences.

TWEETABLE ABSTRACT

Moderate and late preterm birth is associated with increased economic costs over the first 2 years of life.

Hospital costs associated with stillbirth delivery

Fetal deaths account for nearly one percent of all births in the United States. The cost of hospital care associated with fetal deaths may be substantial. However, there is very limited data on the economic burden of fetal death. We conducted a retrospective medical chart review of stillbirths at three large hospitals in Michigan over a ten-year period and identified medical complications, hospital costs, and length of stay for these deliveries. Mothers with stillbirth were matched with mothers of the same age who delivered a live-born infant at the same hospital during the same year. Our final sample was comprised of 533 stillbirths and 1,053 matched live births. Average hospital cost for stillbirth was $7,495 (±7,015) and the average length of stay was 2.8 days (±2.8). Having a serious maternal medical complication was associated with higher costs and longer length of stay among women with stillbirth. Early stillbirths between 20 and 28 weeks gestational age, epidural/spinal/general anesthesia, and cesarean delivery were also associated with longer length of stay. Average hospital costs for women with stillbirth were more than $750 higher than women with live births but length of stay was not significantly different between the two. This study suggests that stillbirths were associated with substantial maternal hospital costs. Future research examining the economic impact of stillbirths beyond labor and delivery such as increased costs associated with additional testing and care in subsequent pregnancies will help better understand the overall economic impact of stillbirths.

Systematic literature review of the costs of pregnancy in the US

BACKGROUND

The cost of pregnancy is increasing over time despite the decline in pregnancy rates.

OBJECTIVE

To fully elucidate and evaluate the cost drivers of pregnancy in the US for payers, a systematic review was conducted to understand the main cost components and primary factors that contribute to the direct costs of pregnancy, pregnancy-related complications and unintended pregnancy among women of childbearing age (15-44 years).

DATA SOURCES

We performed electronic searches in the PubMed database from January 2000 to December 2012, and major women's health and pharmacoeconomics conference proceedings from 2011 to 2012.

STUDY SELECTION

The systematic review is comprised of studies that reported pregnancy, pregnancy-related complications, unplanned pregnancy, and pregnancy-induced monetary costs. The review excluded narrative reports, systematic reviews, model-derived cost of pregnancy papers, non-US-based studies, and reports based solely on expert opinions.

STUDY APPRAISAL AND SYNTHESIS METHODS

Two reviewers independently applied the inclusion criteria and assessed the quality of the data collected. Disagreements between reviewers were resolved by consensus or by arbitration through a third party, with reference to the original sources. We collected information on the study design and outcomes for each included study. We used the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) guidelines in designing, performing, and reporting of the systematic review.

RESULTS

We identified 40 studies from electronic and handsearching methods. We classified studies based on the primary research topic focusing on the overall cost of pregnancy (N = 10), cost of pregnancy-related complications (N = 26), cost of unintended pregnancy (N = 2), cost of planned pregnancy (N = 1), or cost of pregnancy by facilities (N = 1). In the quality assessment, randomized, non-randomized, and retrospective database studies had low to moderate risk of bias. We determined primary cost drivers based on the highest cost reported in each study. The identified cost drivers were inpatient care, pregnancy delivery, multiple births, complicated cesarean sections, high-risk pregnancy, preterm birth, low birth weight, complications due to conditions such as hypertension, diabetes, anemia, and cancer, and in vitro fertilization. In 2008, the overall mean cost per hospital stay for pregnancy-related incidence ranged from $3,306 to $9,234 in 2012 dollars. The mean cost of pregnancy-related complications that led to preterm birth was as high as $326,953 for an infant born at 25 weeks. It is estimated that over 50 % of live births were unintended in the US. The difference in the cost of unintended pregnancy and intended pregnancy was approximately $536 million.

LIMITATIONS

One limitation of the systematic review was the exclusion of model-based cost studies which were excluded because of the high level of variation and heterogeneity across sources of reported cost. Another limitation of the review is that the cost of pregnancy perspective is restricted to the US.

CONCLUSION

Preventing pregnancy-related complications and reducing unintended pregnancies may lower the overall economic burden of pregnancy on the US health care system.

Racial disparities in economic and clinical outcomes of pregnancy among Medicaid recipients

To explore racial-ethnic disparities in adverse pregnancy outcomes among Medicaid recipients, and to estimate excess Medicaid costs associated with the disparities. Cross-sectional study of adverse pregnancy outcomes and Medicaid payments using data from Medicaid Analytic eXtract files on all Medicaid enrollees in fourteen southern states. Compared to other racial and ethnic groups, African American women tended to be younger, more likely to have a Cesarean section, to stay longer in the hospital and to incur higher Medicaid costs. African-American women were also more likely to experience preeclampsia, placental abruption, preterm birth, small birth size for gestational age, and fetal death/stillbirth. Eliminating racial disparities in adverse pregnancy outcomes (not counting infant costs), could generate Medicaid cost savings of $114 to $214 million per year in these 14 states. Despite having the same insurance coverage and meeting the same poverty guidelines for Medicaid eligibility, African American women have a higher rate of adverse pregnancy outcomes than White or Hispanic women. Racial disparities in adverse pregnancy outcomes not only represent potentially preventable human suffering, but also avoidable economic costs. There is a significant financial return-on-investment opportunity tied to eliminating racial disparities in birth outcomes. With the Affordable Care Act expansion of Medicaid coverage for the year 2014, Medicaid could be powerful public health tool for improving pregnancy outcomes.

Maternal racial origin and adverse pregnancy outcome: a cohort study

OBJECTIVE

To examine the association between maternal racial origin and a wide range of adverse pregnancy outcomes after adjustment for confounding factors in obstetric history and maternal characteristics.

METHODS

This was a retrospective study in women with singleton pregnancies attending their first routine hospital visit at 11 + 0 to 13 + 6 weeks of gestation. Data on maternal characteristics, and medical and obstetric history were collected and pregnancy outcomes ascertained. Regression analysis was performed to examine the association between racial origin and adverse pregnancy outcomes including pre-eclampsia (PE), gestational hypertension (GH), gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), preterm delivery (PTD), small-for-gestational age (SGA), large-for-gestational age (LGA), miscarriage, stillbirth and elective and emergency Cesarean section (CS).

RESULTS

The study population included 76 158 singleton pregnancies with a live fetus at 11 + 0 to 13 + 6 weeks. In addition to maternal characteristics and obstetric history, Afro-Caribbean racial origin was associated with increased risk for miscarriage, stillbirth, PE, GH, spontaneous PTD, GDM, SGA and CS. In women of South Asian racial origin there was increased risk for PE, GDM, SGA and CS, and East Asian race contributed to the prediction of GDM and SGA.

CONCLUSION

Maternal racial origin should be combined with other maternal characteristics and obstetric history when calculating an individualized adjusted risk for adverse pregnancy outcome.

Economic costs associated with moderate and late preterm birth: primary and secondary evidence

Despite constituting the vast majority of preterm births, relatively little is known about the clinical and economic outcomes of children born either moderately or late preterm. This paper outlines the economic consequences of moderate and late preterm birth for the health services, for other sectors of the economy, for families and carers and, more broadly, for society. The paper reviews both the peer-reviewed literature and additional sources for information on the economic consequences of moderate and late preterm birth. It then goes on to present the results of a decision-analytic modelling study that aimed to estimate the societal costs associated with moderate and late preterm birth throughout the childhood years. Finally, the requirements for future methodological and applied research in this area are briefly outlined.