2011 Fiscal Year Final Research Report
Reduction of short-term and long-term increase in medical costs through prevention of low birthweight infants
| Project/Area Number |
21590587
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | 一般 |
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| Research Field |
Medical sociology
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| Research Institution | National Institute of Public Health |
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Principal Investigator |
TAKIMOTO Hidemi 国立保健医療科学院, 生涯健康研究部, 上席主任研究官 (50270690)
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| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
KATO Noriko 国立保健医療科学院, 統括研究官 (30150171)
SUDO Noriko お茶の水女子大学, 大学院・人間文化創成科学研究科, 准教授 (40280755)
FUJIWARA Takeo 国立成育医療センター研究所, 成育社会医学部, 部長 (80510213)
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| Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha) |
TANAKA Tetsuro 長野県長野保健福祉事務所, 所長
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| Project Period (FY) |
2009 – 2011
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| Keywords | 医療経済学 / 低出生体重 / 医療政策 |
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| Research Abstract |
In order to determine the most effective health policy for reducing the number of low birthweight(LBW) infants, we compared maternal smoking cessation and folic acid supplementation. Maternal smoking cessation was estimated to halve the risk of LBW, while folic acid supplementation had no clear effects.
The medical costs of LBW infants covered by public fee have been steadily rising since 1997.In recent years, the number of infants has not risen, but the medical costs have risen to nearly two times. Further analyses showed that length of hospital stay increased with birthweight decrease, and the medical cost per day also increased. This phenomenon has also been observed at the national level. Nation-wide efforts should be taken to reduce the current trend of increasing severity of altered health of these Japanese LBW infants.
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