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Background:Previous assessments of the economic impact of preterm birth focus sed on short term health service costs across the broad spectrum of prematurity.Objective:To estimate the societal costs of extreme preterm birth during the s ixth year after birth.Methods:Unit costs were applied to estimates of health,social and broader resource use made by 241 children born at 20 through 25 compl eted weeks of gestation in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland and a comp arison group of 160 children born at full term.Societal costs per child during the sixth year after birth were estimated and subjected to a rigorous sensitivit y analysis.The effects of gestational age at birth on annual societal costs wer e analysed,first in a simple linear regression and then in a multiple linear re gression.Results:Mean societal costs over the 12 month period were ￡9541(sta ndard deviation ￡11,678)for the extreme preterm group and ￡3883(￡1098)for the term group,generating a mean cost difference of ￡5658(bootstrap 95%confi dence interval:￡4203,￡7256)that was statistically significant(P < 0.001).After adjustment for clinical and sociodemographic covariates,sexspecific extre me preterm birth was a strong predictor of high societal costs.Conclusion:The results of this study should facilitate the effective planning of services and m ay be used to inform the development of future economic evaluations of intervent ions aimed at preventing extreme preterm birth or alleviating its effects.
Background: Previous assessments of the economic impact of preterm birth focus sed on short term health service costs across the broad spectrum of prematurity. Objective: To estimate the societal costs of extreme preterm birth during the ixth year after birth. Methods: Unit costs were applied to estimates of health, social and broader resource use made by 241 children born at 20 through 25 compl eted weeks of gestation in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland and a comp arison group of 160 children born at full term.Societal costs per child during the sixth year after birth were estimated and subjected to rigorous sensitivit y analysis. The effects of gestational age at birth on annual societal costs wer e analyzed, first in a simple linear regression and then in a multiple linear re gression. Results: Mean societal costs over the 12 month period were £ 9541 (stardard deviation £ 11,678) for the extreme preterm group and £ 3883 (£ 1098) for the term group, generating a mean cost differe that was statistically significant (P <0.001). After adjustment for clinical and sociodemographic covariates, sexspecific extre me preterm birth was a strong predictor of high societal costs. Conclusion: The results of this study should facilitate the effective planning of services and m ay be used to inform the development of future economic evaluations of intervent ions aimed at preventing extreme preterm birth or alleviating its effects.