Assistive Reproductive Technologies: A Literature Review and ...

Table 2-F: Comparison of mothers total costsBirth Weight Plurality Linear Prediction ofMean Total CostCost DifferenceCompared to NBWSingletonsCost Ratio(Compared toSingletons)NBW Singletons $4695 — —LBW Singletons $5733 $1039 1.22NBW ≥ Twins $6707 $2012 1.43LBW ≥ Twins $7216 $2521 1.54VisitsFigure 2-C shows the predicted mean physician and hospital visits of infants(refer to Appendix D for full regression coefficients). For hospital visits, there werestatistically significant differences (p < .05) observed between NBW and LBWinfants and between singletons and twins. There was also a statistically significantinteraction effect observed between LBW/NBW singletons and twins. Forphysician visits, there were statistically significant differences (p < .05) observedbetween NBW and LBW infants but no statistical difference between singletons,twins, and HOM. NBW singletons were associated with the lowest mean hospitalvisits (1.17) followed by NBW twins (1.25), LBW twins (1.59), LBW singletons(1.68), NBW HOM (2.00), and LBW HOM (2.26). NBW singletons wereassociated with the lowest mean physician visits (11.90) followed by NBW twins(12.33), NBW HOM (16.50), LBW singletons (17.21), LBW twins (17.31), andLBW HOM (24.83).Figure 2-D shows the predicted mean physician and hospital visits of mothers(refer to Appendix D for full regression coefficients). There were statisticallysignificant differences (p < .05) in physician and hospital visits observed betweenNBW and LBW infants and between singletons and ≥ twins. There was nointeraction effect observed between LBW/NBW singletons and ≥ twins. Mothersof NBW singletons were associated with the lowest mean hospital visits (1.17)followed by mothers of NBW ≥ twins (1.33), mothers of LBW singletons (1.46),and mothers of LBW ≥ twins (1.58). Mothers of NBW singletons were associatedwith the lowest mean physician visits (27.90) followed by mothers of NBW ≥ twins(37.24), mothers of LBW singletons (31.56), and mothers of LBW ≥ twins (42.77).24 Assistive Reproductive Technologies:a Literature Review and Database Analysis