The Cost of Prematurity: Hospital Charges at Birth and Frequency of Rehospitalizations and Acute Care Visits over the First Year of Life

A study compared hospital charges and frequency of rehospitalizations and acute care visits in the first year of life in preterm and low-birth-weight infants with those of full-term and normal-birth-weight infants. Interventions to improve prenatal care targeted to women at high risk for delivering preterm or low-birth-weight infants would reduce health care costs and improve health outcomes of infants.