| Problem | Rate | Medical Cost Include 1st year | Reduction wirh Vit D | # needed to treat | Amortized savings per pregnancy |
| Preterm & LBW | 12% | $51,800 | 50% | 20 | $2,590 |
| Low Birth Weight | 8% CDC | $50,000 | 60% | 21 | $2,400 |
| Miscarriage | 20% | $4,000 1/2 get D&C | 40% if > 20 ng | 12.5 | $320 |
| Stillbirth (Omega-3) | 0.6% | $7,500 mean | 66% | 242 | $30 |
| Vibrosis |
Note
The savings due to Miscarriage and Stillbirth are so small that they can be ignored
Preterm birth and low birth weight (LBW) have a lot in common.
Cost savings of preventing preterm and LBW is most likely less than the sum of of the two
The range is from $2,600 to $5,000
Let's conservatively assume the amortized savings due to Vitamin D for a pregnancy = $3,000
Also assume that the total cost of vitamin D, instruction, tests, overhead, and paying the pregnant woman to take it is $1,000
Could, for example, send a check of $546 to a pregnant woman with good level of vitamin D (> 40 ng)
$546 = $2 a day X 39 weeks
This would still leave $2,000 net profit per Vitamin-D-boosted pregnancy for a Health Insurance company or Health Maintenance Organization
Appears that 1/3 of LBW is due to premature birth, 2/3 is not
The economic burden of preterm and low birth-weight (LBW) births
Inpatient Hospitalization Costs of LBW Births in Tennessee 2005
| < 500g | $126,015 | ||||
| 500g to 999g | $76,177 | ||||
| 1000g to 1499g | $34,688 | Very LBW | |||
| 1500g to 1999g | $14,520 | LBW 1 | |||
| 2000g to 2499g | $5,853 | LBW 2 | |||
Note: This does not include costs of visits to doctor's offices, costs of drugs at home, etc. How many years?
Download the PDF from VitaminDWiki
The Business Case for Promoting Healthy Pregnancy
page 10
Download the PDF from VitaminDWiki__
Download the Referenced study from VitaminDWiki
The very high costs were due to including exteremly low birth weights (< 1,250 gram)
Wikipedia chart on Low Birth Weight. Small for Gestational Age, Premature, etc
Costs of Low Birth Weight (2005)
Download the PDF from VitaminDWiki
March of Dimes LBW - 2013
Note: Employer costs do not include employee costs such as co-pay, time off from work,
Download the PDF from VitaminDWiki
LBW vs Race
LBW for countries vs year
Health at a Glance 2011: OECD Indicators LBW
LBW vs country - 2011
Starting behind: Low birth weight in the United States Brookings
Smoking while pregnant
Smoking while pregnant: are the problems due to low vitamin D – July 2013
CBS story did not mention vitamin D but has the following risk factors
- Miscarriage (known to be associated with low vitamin D)
- Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) (known to be associated with low vitamin D)
- mental health problems for children: ADHD, autism (known to be associated with low vitamin D)
- premature birth, (known to be associated with low vitamin D)
- cleft lip or palate (excess vitamin A or lack of folic)
Smoking reduces vitamin D - many studies has the following
It appears that taking Vitamin D while smoking will
- Decrease the incidence of the many health problems associated with smoking - even lung cancer
- Decrease the desire to smoke
Lower Birth Weight if Smoke and/or Non-white
Smoking: Effects on Mothers and Babies in West Virginia - 1989-1998
See also VitaminDWiki
See also web
- D&C American Pregnancy Association - sometime before Dec 2016
"most miscarriages occur during the first 13 weeks of pregnancy"
"If the body does not expel all the tissue, the most common procedure performed to stop bleeding and prevent infection is a D&C."
"About 50% of women who miscarry do not undergo a D&C procedure"