Gestational age and hospital admission costs from birth to childhood: A population-based record linkage study in England

Abstract

Objective To examine the association between gestational age at birth and hospital admission costs from birth to 8 years of age. Design Population-based, record linkage, cohort study in England. Setting National Health Service (NHS) hospitals in England, UK. Participants 1 018 136 live, singleton births in NHS hospitals in England between 1 January 2005 and 31 December 2006. Main outcome measures Hospital admission costs from birth to age 8 years, estimated by gestational age at birth (<28, 28-29, 30-31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41 and 42 weeks). Results Both birth admission and subsequent admission hospital costs decreased with increasing gestational age at birth. Differences in ..