In the past, studies have suggested that premature babies stand a better chance of survival in neonatal intensive care units that have more experience and care for a larger number of patients. This is similar to findings in adult intensive care units and other areas as well. Previous studies of premature infants were small and were performed prior to some recent advances in neonatal care.
In the past two decades, deregionalization of neonatal care has occurred, and there has been growth in the number of NICUs in community hospitals, and an increase in the number of high-risk newborns receiving care in often low-volume units offering midlevel care.
In this recent, large study, babies in California over a 10-year period were analyzed. Mortality in very-low-birth-weight infants was lowest when deliveries occurred in hospitals with NICUs that treat more than 100 such infants per year and in those that perform a higher level of service. Since the percentage of such infants born in these centers has been declining over the past number of years, the authors suggest that increased regionalization of perinatal care might reduce mortality among very-low-birth-weight infants.
