Timing of Initial Well-Child Visit and Readmissions of Newborns

Abstract

Of 79 720 newborns, 50 606 (63%) were discharged within 48 hours of birth. Of these, 7638 (15%) had a visit within 72 hours of discharge. The readmission rate for newborns who had a visit within the recommended time frame was 15.7 per 1000 compared with 18.4 for those with a later visit (odds ratio 0.85; 95% confidence interval 0.73-0.99) CONCLUSIONS: The frequency of first WCVs that occurred within the recommended time frames was low. Early visits were associated with a 15% reduction in the rate of readmissions.