Rehospitalization of infants born to adolescent mothers

This study defines the variables that predict rehospitalization of infants born to teen mothers. Rehospitalization was defined as hospital admission during the first year of life subsequent to hospitalization at birth. Normal birth weight (NBW), but not low birth weight (LBW), infants of adolescent mothers had higher rehospitalization rates than infants of older mothers. NBW infants of young vs. older mothers had significantly higher rehospitalization rates for gastroenteritis. Among infants of adolescent mothers, the variables associated with increased risk of rehospitalization were unemployed household head, presence of a congenital anomaly or developmental delay, and an unusually high or low number of well child care visits. Although individual variables were significant at the bivariate level, in combination, these variables were poor predictors of which infants would be rehospitalized. Our study suggests that all teen mothers of NBW infants may require additional education to prevent excess rehospitalization of their infants.