A Randomized Clinical Trial of Early Hospital Discharge and Home Follow-up of Very-Low-Birth-Weight Infants

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Abstract
To determine the safety, efficacy, and cost savings of early hospital discharge of very-low-birth-weight infants (≤1500 g), we randomly assigned infants to one of two groups. Infants in the control group (n = 40) were discharged according to routine nursery criteria, which included a weight of about 2200 g. Those in the early-discharge group (n = 39) were discharged before they reached this weight if they met a standard set of conditions. For families of infants in the early-discharge group, instruction, counseling, home visits, and daily on-call availability of a hospital-based nurse specialist for 18 months were provided.