Early human development
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Early human development · Feb 2006
Data collection from very low birthweight infants in a geographical region: methods, costs, and trends in mortality, admission rates, and resource utilisation over a five-year period.
1. To determine the survival and morbidity of infants at discharge with a birthweight of less than 1500 g in the geographically defined population of East Anglia. 2. To demonstrate a cost-effective method of regional data collection. 3. To determine whether there were any changes in the demand for neonatal care. ⋯ It is possible to collect useful data from the neonatal period at a reasonable cost from a geographically defined population. This information was used for informing clinicians, counselling parents and in the era of managed clinical networks will be useful in guiding the provision of effective health care resources.