Health and hospital readmissions of very-low-birth-weight and normal-birth-weight children
W. H. Kitchen, G. W. Ford, L. W. Doyle, A. L. Rickards and E. A. Kelly
Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Melbourne, Australia.
Rehospitalizations and ongoing health problems at 5 years of age were
contrasted between 197 very-low-birth-weight (VLBW) children and 47
normal-birth-weight children. At 5 years of age, the VLBW children had a
mean of 1.7 hospital admissions and 8.5 days in a hospital; these means
were significantly more than the 0.5 admissions and 1.7 days, respectively,
for the normal-birth-weight children. Overall, respiratory tract problems
and ear, nose, and throat surgery were the most common reasons for
readmissions. Malformations and intensive care sequelae infrequently caused
readmissions. No combination of sociodemographic or perinatal variables
identified the VLBW children who were destined for hospital readmissions.
At 5 years of age, the VLBW children, compared with the normal-birth-weight
children, had significantly more ongoing sensorineural problems (29.9% and
10.6%, respectively), ongoing respiratory problems (39.6% and 19.1%,
respectively), and other morbidities (31.0% and 17.0%, respectively). The
VLBW children, compared with the normal-birth-weight children, had more
hospital admissions during the first 5 years of life and more ongoing
problems at 5 years of age.
