Few newborns have early well-child visit

(HealthDay)—Only 15 percent of newborns with an estimated gestational age of ≥34 weeks have a well-child visit (WCV) within the recommended time frame, and these visits correlate with a reduction in the rate of readmissions, according to a study published online Feb. 2 in Pediatrics.

Julie Shakib, D.O., M.P.H., from the University of Utah School of Medicine in Salt Lake City, and colleagues used data from a large health care system in Utah to examine the readmission rates for newborns with an estimated gestational age of 34 weeks or more. The authors compared the rates of readmission for those who did and did not have an early WCV.

The researchers found that 63 percent of the 79,720 newborns were discharged within 48 hours of birth. Fifteen percent of these had a WCV within 72 hours of discharge. For newborns who had a WVC within the recommended time frame, the readmission rate was 15.7 per 1,000, compared to 18.4 for those with a later visit (odds ratio, 0.85).

"The frequency of first WCVs that occurred within the recommended time frames was low," the authors write. "Early visits were associated with a 15 percent reduction in the rate of readmissions."

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