ArticleJournal of perinatology : official journal of the California Perinatal Association2026
Trends in admissions and costs for neonatal intensive care in US children's hospitals, 2017-2022.
Article in Journal of perinatology : official journal of the California Perinatal Association, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
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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.
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Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- Inequitable access to risk-appropriate neonatal care: evidence from a regionalized perinatal system in Arkansas.Frontiers in reproductive health · 2026Article
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Authors and funding
10 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectivesTo evaluate trends in neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) admissions, illness acuity, and hospitalization costs among U.S. children's hospitals from 2017 to 2022.
methodsThis retrospective cohort study used data from the Pediatric Health Information System (PHIS) and included all NICU admissions. We examined trends in patient characteristics (e.g., gestational age, complex chronic conditions), illness severity scores, and standardized hospital costs. Interrupted time series analyses assessed changes in NICU costs over time.
resultsThere were 234,571 infants admitted to NICUs in US children's hospitals between 2017 and 2022. NICU admissions shifted significantly by gestational age with admissions increasing by 10-18% among extremely, very, and late preterm infants. Term infants remained the largest admission group, averaging 45% annually (p < 0.001). Infants with ≥1 complex chronic condition increased from 46.6% in 2017 to 50.9% in 2022 (p < 0.001). NICU-specific illness severity increased modestly over time (1.14-1.24, p < 0.001). Median standardized NICU hospital costs rose by approximately 20% over the study period, with notable inflections in early 2020 and 2021.
conclusionsAmong US children's hospitals in the PHIS database, NICU admissions were increasingly complex and costly. These findings highlight the importance of ongoing monitoring of resource use and patient mix in specialized NICU settings.
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