Social disparities negatively impact neonatal follow-up clinic attendance of premature infants discharged from the neonatal intensive care unit
Objective Neonatal neurodevelopmental follow-up clinic provides continued surveillance and assessment of high-risk premature infants. We hypothesized that attrition is associated with race and social factors. Study design We performed a retrospective cohort study of neonates born at 26–32 weeks gest...
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Published in | Journal of perinatology Vol. 40; no. 5; pp. 790 - 797 |
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Main Authors | , , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
New York
Nature Publishing Group US
01.05.2020
Nature Publishing Group |
Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | Objective
Neonatal neurodevelopmental follow-up clinic provides continued surveillance and assessment of high-risk premature infants. We hypothesized that attrition is associated with race and social factors.
Study design
We performed a retrospective cohort study of neonates born at 26–32 weeks gestation who were admitted to a level IV neonatal intensive care unit. Maternal and neonatal characteristics and follow-up attendance were collected. Statistical analysis was performed with significance set at
p
value < 0.05.
Results
In total, 237 neonates met study criteria. There was a 62% loss to follow-up over 2 years. Factors associated with loss to follow-up included older gestational age, African American race, and maternal cigarette smoking. Protective factors included older maternal age, a neonatal diagnosis of bronchopulmonary dysplasia, and longer hospital length of stay.
Conclusions
Social disparities negatively impact neonatal follow-up clinic attendance. Efforts to identify and target high-risk populations must be started during initial hospitalization before infants are lost to follow-up. |
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Bibliography: | ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 Dr. Swearingen designed the study and wrote the manuscript with guidance from Drs. Cabacungan and Cohen. Dr. Cabacungan performed the statistical analysis with oversight from the Division of Quantitative Health Sciences. AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONS |
ISSN: | 0743-8346 1476-5543 |
DOI: | 10.1038/s41372-020-0659-4 |