Scoring newborns for the risk of subsequent hospital admissions: comparative findings in Jerusalem and Haifa

Six demographic and health characteristics of newborn infants were used to develop an additive risk score for predicting first admissions to hospitals during their first two years of life. The scoring system, developed for a cohort of 5,243 infants in Haifa, identified an at-risk group comprising 23% of the population, in whom 43% of hospital admission events occurred. The same scores, applied to a cohort of 5,800 infants in Jerusalem, identified an at-risk group comprising 22% of the population and predicted 35% of hospital admission events. Possible reasons for the differences between the two cities are discussed.