Fewer Australian babies need to be readmitted to hospital before their first birthday than in the 1990s, a new study suggests.
The researchers, led by Dr Samantha Lain, found a 10% decline in infant readmissions to NSW hospitals within a year of their birth in the nine years to 2009.
The largest declines in readmissions related to intestinal and viral infections (both down 3.2% per year) and upper respiratory tract infections (down 1.6% per year).
The authors attributed the drop to lower rates of maternal and infant risk factors, such as smoking, and the length of hospital birth stays.
Read more at University of Sydney