Observational studyThe Journal of pediatrics2025
The Impact of Hospital Delivery Volumes of Newborns Born Very Preterm on Mortality and Morbidity.
Observational study in The Journal of pediatrics, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed.
- Birth certificate data substantially misrepresent actual NICU admissions, including among most vulnerable.Journal of perinatology : official journal of the California Perinatal Association · 2026Article
- Disparities in delivery hospital risk-adjusted outcomes for very low birthweight infants: the role of NICU volume and level of care.Journal of perinatology : official journal of the California Perinatal Association · 2026Article
- Access Is Not Utilization: Why Sustainable Rural Maternity Care Requires Investment in Women's Trust, Continuity, and Workforce Stability.Journal of primary care & community healthArticle
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveTo examine if the annual patient volume of infants born very preterm (VPT, gestational age <32 weeks) at a hospital is associated with neonatal mortality and morbidity. STUDY
designWe performed an observational, secondary data analysis using a 20-year panel of birth certificates linked to hospital discharge abstracts, including transfers in California, Michigan, Missouri, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina from 1996 through 2015. The study included all in-hospital VPT deliveries (n = 208 261). Study outcomes were in-hospital mortality or serious morbidity (intraventricular hemorrhage, necrotizing enterocolitis, retinopathy of prematurity, or bronchopulmonary dysplasia), attributed to the hospital of birth. Poisson regression models estimated the risk-adjusted relative risk (RR) for mortality and serious morbidity across different patient volume categories within a given hospital using hospital fixed effects.
resultsThe risk of mortality and serious morbidity for VPT infants increased as the number of infants born VPT at a hospital decreased. Compared with VPT delivery volumes >100 infants per year, the risk of mortality increased when a given hospital had VPT delivery volumes < 60 per year, ranging from a RR of 1.13 (95% C.I. 1.02-1.25) for volumes between 50 to 59 and 1.39 (1.19-1.62) for VPT volumes <10, and the risk of mortality or serious morbidity increased when a given hospital had VPT volumes <100, ranging from a RR of 1.05 (1.02-1.08) for volumes between 90 to 99 and 1.27 (1.19-1.36) for VPT volumes <10.
conclusionsThese results suggest that, for VPT infants, the risk of both mortality and mortality or serious morbidity is increased as the VPT volume within a given hospital declines.
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