The financial burden experienced by families of preterm infants after NICU discharge

Ashwini Lakshmanan; Ashley Y Song; Mandy B Belfort; Leah Yieh; Dmitry Dukhovny; Philippe S Friedlich; Cynthia L Gong

doi:10.1038/s41372-021-01213-4

The financial burden experienced by families of preterm infants after NICU discharge

J Perinatol. 2022 Feb;42(2):223-230. doi: 10.1038/s41372-021-01213-4. Epub 2021 Sep 24.

Authors

Ashwini Lakshmanan^{1

2

3}, Ashley Y Song⁴, Mandy B Belfort⁵, Leah Yieh^{6

7}, Dmitry Dukhovny⁸, Philippe S Friedlich⁶, Cynthia L Gong^{6

7}

Affiliations

¹ Fetal and Neonatal Medicine Institute, Division of Neonatal Medicine, Children's Hospital Los Angeles, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA. alakshmanan@chla.usc.edu.
² Leonard D. Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA. alakshmanan@chla.usc.edu.
³ Department of Preventive Medicine, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA. alakshmanan@chla.usc.edu.
⁴ Department of Preventive Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA.
⁵ Department of Pediatric Newborn Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
⁶ Fetal and Neonatal Medicine Institute, Division of Neonatal Medicine, Children's Hospital Los Angeles, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
⁷ Leonard D. Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
⁸ Division of Neonatology, Department of Pediatrics, Oregon Health Sciences University, Portland, OR, USA.

Abstract

Background and objectives: Describe the financial burden and worry that families of preterm infants experience after discharge from the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).

Methods: We surveyed 365 parents of preterm infants in a cross-sectional study regarding socio-demographics, supplemental security income (SSI), and financial worry. We completed a multivariable logistic regression model to examine the adjusted association of financial worry with modifiable factors.

Results: We found that 53% of participants worried about healthcare costs after NICU discharge. After adjusting for socio-demographic and infant characteristics, we identified that, aOR (95% CI), out-of-pocket costs from the NICU index hospitalization, 3.51 (1.7, 7.26) and durable medical equipment use, 2.41 (1.11, 5.23) was associated with increased financial worry while enrollment in SSI, 0.38 (0.19, 0.76) was associated with decreased financial worry.

Conclusions: We identified factors that could contribute to financial burden after NICU discharge that may advise future work to target financial support systems.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Cross-Sectional Studies
Financial Stress
Humans
Infant
Infant, Newborn
Infant, Premature*
Intensive Care Units, Neonatal*
Patient Discharge

Grants and funding

KL2 TR001854/TR/NCATS NIH HHS/United States