[High rate of early hospitalization in healthy newborns]

The length of hospital stay of healthy term newborns and their mothers varies in different developed countries. The American Academy of Pediatrics defines early postpartum discharge (EPD) as a discharge occurring within 48 hours of postpartum. EPD has been advocated by patients as part of the humanization of care after delivery and by health services as a more efficient management of resources. Controversies in relation to EPD focus on its impact on initiation and maintenance of breastfeeding, the possible increase of readmissions of newborns with jaundice and the influence on newborn screening for endocrine and metabolic disorders.

Five years ago we started an EPD program for healthy term newborns. We present a descriptive observational study including a series of 2798 consecutive live newborns over a period of 19 months (April 1996 to October 1997). Data about breastfeeding at the time of discharge, coverage of hypothyroidism and phenylketonuria screening and readmissions for newborn jaundice were collected during this period.

During the defined period of time, 2798 live newborns were registered. Of these, 2109 (75.38%) were included in the EPD group, the majority of them (75.86%) between 24 and 40 hours postpartum. Breastfeeding was implemented in 95.82% of the newborns, 3.56% of the mothers decided to use artificial formulas and 0.52% were prescribed artificial formulas due to health problems in the mother. In relation to newborn screening of endocrine and metabolic diseases, we found similar coverage of hypothyroid screening compared to the other 7 maternities in our province (public and private) and of phenylketonuria screening compared to the other 5 primary care districts. Regarding newborn jaundice, we detected 47 readmissions, which is 2.23% of the total EPD. These newborns were treated with phototherapy and none required exchange transfusion. The mean value of total serum bilirubin at the time of readmission was 18.7 mg/dl, with a range between 15.1 and 22.6 mg/dl.

In our experience, 75.38% of live newborns were included in a EPD program that has been shown to be safe in relation to controversial subjects, although the limitations of an observational study must be taken into consideration. The safety of this program is inferred by the high proportion of breastfeeding on EPD (95.82%), coverage of endocrine and metabolic screening comparable to other surrounding hospitals and adequate control of hyperbilirubinemia in the newborn period.