5 Strands of Hope: High-Level NICUs Prove Best for Babies

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

High-Level NICUs Prove Best for Babies

There is an article today on The Inquisitr's website about a study conducted by researches at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and The University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in Philadelphia. The study concluded that high-risk premature babies who are born in hospitals with high-level neonatal intensive care units (high-level NICU) fare better than high-risk newborns born in other hospital settings. The research will be published in the August 2012 issue of the journal Pediatrics.

Neonatal Intensive Care

According to the study, premature babies born in high-level NICU hospitals had signiﬁcantly fewer in-hospital neonatal deaths in all three states. Furthermore, women who gave birth in a high-level NICU hospital were more likely to have either a pre-existing comorbid condition such as gestational diabetes or a complication of pregnancy such as preterm labor. Babies who were born in high-level NICU hospitals had a younger gestational age on average.

Tiny Baby Receives Excellent Care at High-Level NICU

In unadjusted analyses, hospitals with a high-level NICU had higher neonatal death rates. However, after adjusting for factors such as gestational age at birth and other compounding complications and factors, the researchers discovered that delivering at a high-level NICU hospital offered better outcomes for premature babies than premature babies born in other hospital settings.

Here is the link to the full article.

My Book at Amazon: Five Strands of Hope