The objective of this study was assessment of hospital costs of 211 preterm babies admitted to NICU in a 12-month period. Preterm babies with gestational age 28-37 GW hospitalized in Dr. L. Kırdar Kartal Research and Training Hospital NICU between November 1st, 2006 to October 31st, 2007 were included in this retrospective study. The financial records of the babies were plotted and investigational, interventional, consumable costs, drugs and ancillary costs were determined. The average daily cost of a preterm has been determined. Group I and II consisted of babies with gestational ages 37-33 GW and 32-28 GWs respectively. The length of stay, ventilation duration and costs of each group were compared. The mean birth weight was 1689±497 gr. The mean length of hospital stay was 13.6±13.4 days. Hundred and four (49,5%) patients were found to be ventilated. The median ventilation day was 3 days. We found a statistically significant relation between length of hospital stay, ventilation duration, presence of intervention, RDS, sepsis and hospital costs. The mean total hospitalization cost and the daily cost of a preterm was determined as $4187 and $303 respectively. The highest intensive care costs of preterm neonates were found to be paid for interventional procedures, followed by NICU personnel salary and ancillary costs. Between two groups statistically significant difference was found for length of stay, duration of ventilation, interventional and consumable costs (P=0.014, P=0.019, P=0,001, P=0.03 respectively). Strategies for prevention of prematurity and early weaning from mechanical ventilation may shorten length of hospital stay leading to decreased NICU costs.

Prevalence of low birth weight deliveries may vary across different environments. The necessity of determination of regional data prompted this study. Information of all deliveries from January 2004 to December 2008 was obtained from delivery registry records retrospectively. Initial data including birth weight, vital status, sex, maternal age and mode of delivery were recorded using medical files. The frequency of low birth weight, very low birth weight, extremely low birth weight and stillbirth deliveries were determined. Among 19,533 total births, there were 450 (23.04 per 1000) stillbirths. Low birth weight rate was 10.61%. A significant increase in yearly distribution of low birth weight deliveries was observed (P<0.001). Very low birth weight and extremely low birth weight delivery rates were 3.14% and 1.58% respectively. Among 2073 low birth weight infants, 333 (16.06%) were stillbirths. The stillbirth delivery rate and the birth of a female infant among low birth weight deliveries were significantly higher than infants with birth weight ≥2500g (P<0.001, OR=28.37), (P<0.001) retrospectively. There was no statistical difference between low birth weight and maternal age. The rate of cesarean section among low birth weight infants was 49.4%. High low birth weight and stillbirth rates, as well as the increase in low birth weight deliveries over the past five years in this study are striking. For reduction of increased low birth weight rates, appropriate intervention methods should be initiated.