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Hospital-wide breastfeeding rates vs. breastmilk provision for very-low-birth-weight infants

Henry C Lee1, Priya Jegatheesan, Jeffrey B Gould

  • 1Department of Pediatrics, Stanford University, 750 Welch Road, Palo Alto, CA 94304, USA. hclee@stanford.edu

Acta Paediatrica (Oslo, Norway : 1992)
|November 24, 2012
PubMed

Insights

Hospital breastfeeding rates do not fully reflect very-low-birth-weight infant feeding in neonatal intensive care units. Separate reporting may obscure the quality of care for vulnerable infants.

Area of Science:

  • Neonatal care
  • Public health
  • Infant nutrition

Background:

  • Breastfeeding is crucial for infant health, especially for premature and low-birth-weight infants.
  • Neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) play a vital role in supporting breastfeeding for vulnerable newborns.
  • Assessing hospital-wide breastfeeding rates may not accurately represent NICU-specific outcomes.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To examine the correlation between overall hospital breastfeeding rates and breastmilk feeding rates for very-low-birth-weight infants in NICUs.
  • To evaluate how hospital performance in overall breastfeeding compares to performance in feeding very-low-birth-weight infants.

Main Methods:

  • A cross-sectional study analyzed data from 111 California hospitals in 2007-2008.
  • Correlation coefficients were calculated between overall and NICU-specific breastfeeding rates.
  • Hospitals were categorized into quartiles based on very-low-birth-weight infant feeding rates.

Main Results:

  • Correlation varied by NICU level, ranging from 0.13 (intermediate) to 0.48 (regional).
  • Only 46% of hospitals with high overall breastfeeding rates were also top performers for very-low-birth-weight infants.
  • A notable percentage (11%) of hospitals with low overall rates excelled in feeding very-low-birth-weight infants.

Conclusions:

  • Overall hospital breastfeeding rates may not be a sufficient indicator of NICU quality of care.
  • Separate reporting of overall and NICU-specific breastfeeding metrics is recommended for a comprehensive quality assessment.
  • Understanding disparities in feeding outcomes for vulnerable infants is essential for targeted interventions.
Abstract

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