Immediate Skin-to-Skin Contact May Have Beneficial Effects on the Cardiorespiratory …

Linnér A, Lode Kolz K, Klemming S, Bergman N, Lilliesköld S, Markhus Pike H, Westrup B, Rettedal S, Jonas W. Immediate skin-to-skin contact may have beneficial effects on the cardiorespiratory stabilisation in very preterm infants. Acta Paediatr. 2022 Aug;111(8):1507-1514. doi: 10.1111/apa.16371. Epub 2022 Apr 28. PMID: 35466432.

Aim
Our aim was to investigate what effect immediate skin-to-skin contact with a parent had on the cardiorespiratory stabilisation of very preterm infants.

Methods
This randomised clinical trial was conducted during 2018-2021 at two university hospitals with three neonatal intensive care units in Norway and Sweden. Infants born from 28+0 to 32+6 weeks of gestation were randomised to immediate skin-to-skin contact with a parent for the first six postnatal hours or standard incubator care. The outcome was a composite cardiorespiratory stability score, based on serial measures of heart and respiratory rate, respiratory support, fraction of inspired oxygen and oxygen saturation.

Results
We recruited 91 newborn infants with a mean gestational age of 31+1 (range 28+4-32+6) weeks and mean birth weight of 1534 (range 555-2440) g: 46 received immediate skin-to-skin contact and 45 received incubator care. The group who received skin-to-skin contact had an adjusted mean score of 0.52 higher (95% confidence interval 0.38-0.67, p < 0.001) on a scale from zero to six when compared to the control group.

Conclusion
Immediate skin-to-skin contact for the first six postnatal hours had beneficial effects on the cardiorespiratory stabilisation of very preterm infants.

Disponível Em: <https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/>