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Preterm birth a long distance from home and its significant social and financial stress
Author(s) -
Fry Mary Jane,
Cartwright David W.,
Huang Rae Chi,
Davies Mark W.
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
australian and new zealand journal of obstetrics and gynaecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.734
H-Index - 65
eISSN - 1479-828X
pISSN - 0004-8666
DOI - 10.1046/j.0004-8666.2003.00092.x
Subject(s) - loneliness , medicine , social isolation , pediatrics , retrospective cohort study , cohort , unit (ring theory) , demography , psychology , psychiatry , surgery , mathematics education , sociology
The present paper reports a retrospective cohort of preterm infants admitted to our hospital who delivered outside the normal geographical catchment area of the mother's local level three neonatal nursery. Nineteen mothers had 21 preterm infants (23.1–34.9 weeks, 500–2330 g born) where 14 infants required ventilation (median 57 h, range 3–428). Eighteen survivors had a median length of stay of 41 days (range 3–91). Twelve of 19 mothers were interviewed: all described isolation, loneliness, poor social support and significant financial hardship related to getting their infants back to a local hospital or home. To avoid these problems, we recommend confining travel to within a short distance from home or local maternity unit after 22 weeks.