Impact of The Designated Regional Neonatal Intensive Care Unit on Neonatal Mortality and Morbidity in The Jeju Area

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: The regional center for neonatal intensive care (RCNIC) in the Jeju area has provided intensive care for high-risk infants since its installation about 2.5 years ago. This study was aimed to evaluate the short-term effects of the RCNIC on the survival rates of high-risk infants in the Jeju area. METHODS: A retrospective medical record review study was performed to compare the outcomes between neonatal patients who were admitted at the RCNIC in Jeju before and those admitted after its installation. Data were classified into either period 1 (2007-2009) or period 2 (2011-2013). RESULTS: In Period 2, for infants with or =37 weeks, numbers of admitted patients increased by 800%, 8.3%, 81.8%, 203.2%, and 66.9%, respectively. For infants with birth weight or =2.5 kg, numbers of admitted patients increased by 162.5%, 68.4%, 236.2%, and 54.6%, respectively. For all the infants admitted at the RCNIC in Jeju, the mortality rates were 7.1% in period 1 and 1.6% in period 2. For infants with or =37 weeks, the mortality rates were 100%, 41.7%, 13.6%, 1.6%, and 3.8%, respectively, in period 1 and 25.0%, 7.7%, 2.5%, 0%, and 1.4%, respectively, in Period 2. For infants with birth weight or =2.5 kg, the mortality rates were 62.5%, 0%, 8.6%, and 2.84%, respectively, in period 1 and 14.3%, 0%, 0.5%, and 1.4%, respectively, in period 2. CONCLUSION: The installation of the RCNIC made an important contribution to the improvement of the neonatal survival rates in Jeju National University Hospital and the Jeju area.