Low birthweight babies take heavy toll in medical costs

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The average hospital cost for a normal weight newborn is $2,209, according to the South Carolina Kids Count Right Start report released Wednesday.

For low birthweight babies — those between 3.3 and 5.5 pounds — that cost rises to $15,592. For very low birthweight babies — less than 3.3 pounds — it soars to $101,889. And South Carolina averaged 4,332 low birthweight babies and 1,073 very low birthweight babies a year between 2000 and 2002, said Baron Holmes, Kids Count project director.

That translates into roughly one baby in 10 born low birthweight, said Erin Wilson, spokeswoman for the state chapter of the March of Dimes.

"The costs of low birthweight and premature birth are enormous, both financially and emotionally," she said. "And on top of that, think about the additional expenses for babies who may have life-long medical problems."

Low birthweight babies can have complications such as lung problems that leave them vulnerable to infections early on and to asthma as they grow older, said Greer pediatrician Dr. Cheryl Evans. They can suffer bleeding in the brain which can cause disabilities like cerebral palsy, she said, and they can have vision problems.

"In the beginning, they will have very expensive healthcare in the neonatal intensive care unit, and they can have ongoing problems that will require therapy and doctor visits, and that can be expensive also," Evans said. "It takes a big toll on everybody."

Medicaid, other insurers, state agencies and school districts pay for most of the additional costs, Holmes said. By working to ensure normal weight babies, he said, the state can save a lot of money.

Strategies for preventing low birthweight babies include healthy lifestyles before and during pregnancy, strong family support, and avoiding stress and depression, according to the report.

Other methods are effective teen pregnancy prevention programs and reducing the number of multiple births resulting from fertility treatments. Multiple births account for 3 percent of all deliveries, but 21 percent of all very low birthweight babies. And babies born to teenage mothers are more likely to be small, the report said.

Good prenatal care, added Evans, is among the most effective ways of having a healthy, normal weight baby.