Morbidity Assessment Index for newborns: A composite tool for measuring newborn health

OBJECTIVE: The objective was to develop, validate, and recommend a scaling model for a discriminative obstetric outcome measure named the Morbidity As sessment index for Newborns. The purpose of this tool is to allow compariso n of obstetric therapeutic strategies on neonatal morbidity, particularly i n the mild to moderate morbidity range. STUDY DESIGN: A list of 66 check-mark (yes or no) items of readily availabl e clinical and laboratory data from the early neonatal period was compiled by a panel of obstetric and neonatal experts. These data were collected on 411 neonates born at greater than or equal to 28 weeks' gestation and repre senting ail grades of morbidity. Detailed psychometric testing included dim ensionality testing and item analysis with the item response theory. The sc ores obtained with this new assessment tool were correlated with newborn an d maternal disease conditions or events and with other measures of newborn morbidity. RESULTS: The Morbidity Assessment Index for Newborns is easy to apply in pr ospective or retrospective studies. Detailed psychometric evaluation result ed in modification of the list to 47 items, each item with a relative scale Value according to severity of morbidity. The test was demonstrated to be a reliable and generalizable scaled index that performs optimally for the m ild to moderate neonatal morbidity range. CONCLUSION: The Morbidity Assessment Index for Newborns is a validated outc ome measurement scale of neonatal morbidity. This new tool may facilitate t he conduct of obstetric clinical trials or epidemiologic population-based s tudies in obstetrics.