Economic impact of early detection and treatment of serious health complications of pregnant women and economic impact of treatment of premature babies

Premature birth is one of the biggest problems of obstetrics in developed countries and is the most common cause of death of a new-born. It represents serious health and social problems for the mother, the child, their family and, by extension, the entire society. The diploma thesis quantifies these costs over a 65-year horizon. While the costs for a mother and a child born at term were calculated at CZK 54,000, thus only for hospitalization during childbirth, for a mother and a child born between the 26th and 29th week of pregnancy, the total costs (hospitalization, social costs and opportunity costs) were determined to almost 92 million CZK as a result of premature birth. The analysis of long-term quantifiable and non-quantifiable impacts of premature birth is further linked in the social analysis of the costs and benefits of the pilot project "The Screening of the risk of premature birth by implementing the QUiPP program", to quantify its benefit, or losses. The goal of the project was to test the QUiPP program, a new tool for predicting premature birth, and to prepare for its implementation in the Czech healthcare system. Based on the results, however, no statistically significant difference was found between women participating in the pilot project and a comparable group of women who did not participate in the project, and thus its impact on premature birth. As part of the analysis of costs and benefits, the economic loss of the project was evaluated.