Economic implications of multiple births: inpatient hospital costs in the first 5 years of life
Open Access
- 1 November 2004
- journal article
- research article
- Published by BMJ in Archives of Disease in Childhood: Fetal & Neonatal
- Vol. 89 (6), F542-F545
- https://doi.org/10.1136/adc.2003.043851
Abstract
Objectives: To estimate long term health service costs for hospital stays associated with singleton, twin, and higher order multiple births up to 5 years of age. Design: Costs from specialty based data from the English Department of Health’s NHS Trust Financial Returns were applied to admissions recorded in the Oxford record linkage study during 1970–1993. Setting: Oxfordshire and West Berkshire, United Kingdom. Subjects: A total of 276 897 children, of whom 270 428 were singletons, 6284 were twins, and 185 were higher order multiple births. Main outcome measures: Duration of hospital admissions during the first 5 years of life. Costs, expressed in £ sterling and valued at 1998–1999 prices, of hospital inpatient services. Results: The total duration of hospital admissions for twins and triplets were respectively twice and eight times that for singletons, once duration of life had been taken into account. Inpatient costs were significantly higher for multiple births than for singletons, with the cost differences concentrated in the first year of life. Over the first 5 years of life, the adjusted mean cost was estimated at £1532 (95% confidence interval (CI) £1516 to £1548) for singletons, £3826 (95%CI £3724 to £3929) for twins, and £8156 (95%CI £7559 to £8754) for higher order multiple births (p < 0.0001). Conclusions: Multiple births contribute disproportionately to hospital inpatient costs, especially during the children’s first year of life.Keywords
This publication has 13 references indexed in Scilit:
- Rising multiple maternity rates and medical management of subfertility: better information is needed.European Journal of Public Health, 2003
- The long‐term costs of preterm birth and low birth weight: results of a systematic reviewChild: Care, Health and Development, 2001
- Analysis of cost data in randomized trials: an application of the non-parametric bootstrapStatistics in Medicine, 2000
- Economic issues in the follow-up of neonatesSeminars in Neonatology, 2000
- Impact of gestational age at delivery on the economics of triplet pregnancyThe Journal of Maternal-Fetal Medicine, 1999
- Recent trends in the incidence of multiple births and associated mortality in England and Wales.Archives of Disease in Childhood: Fetal & Neonatal, 1996
- Costs of triplet pregnancyAmerican Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 1995
- The Economic Impact of Multiple-Gestation Pregnancies and the Contribution of Assisted-Reproduction Techniques to Their IncidenceNew England Journal of Medicine, 1994
- The costs of multiple pregnancyInternational Journal of Gynecology & Obstetrics, 1991
- Social Cost of Twin BirthsActa geneticae medicae et gemellologiae: twin research, 1983