Rehospitalization of very-low-birth-weight infants
T. Combs-Orme, J. Fishbein, C. Summerville and M. G. Evans
School of Social Work and Community Planning, University of Maryland, Baltimore 21201.
Very-low-birth-weight (VLBW) infants are at high risk of mortality,
morbidity, and rehospitalization in the first years of life, but little
information is available to predict which VLBW infants are likely to
require rehospitalization. This study describes a sample of 79 VLBW infants
cared for in a charity hospital. The sample was predominantly black, and
the majority of the mothers were young and unmarried. Some of the infants
were followed up by a multidisciplinary High-Risk Follow-up Clinic, and all
were tracked until their second birthdays to determine the rate of
rehospitalization. Using multiple regression, we present herein a model
that accounts for 51% of the variance in rehospitalization; the model
includes mother's age, education, and marital status; infant birth weight
and gestational age; the use of prenatal care and the High-Risk Follow-up
Clinic; and three quadratic terms. Although the significance of the
quadratic factors in the model makes explanation of these results
difficult, results suggest that the model can be used to predict whether
infants will require rehospitalization in the first two years of life.
