Effects of a Birth Hospital’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Level and Annual Volume of Very Low-Birth-Weight Infant Deliveries on Morbidity and Mortality

Abstract

The risk of death or severe intraventricular hemorrhage and death or necrotizing enterocolitis was lowest among infants born in hospitals that had both a high volume of VLBW infant deliveries and a high-level NICU. Antenatal transfer of high-risk pregnancies to these hospitals may reduce mortality and improve outcomes.