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Published on: January 29, 2014
Application of tactile/kinesthetic stimulation in preterm infants: a systematic review
Vanessa C Pepino1, Maria Aparecida Mezzacappa2
1Program in Child and Adolescent Health Science, Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP), São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
Insights
Tactile/kinesthetic stimulation shows promise for preterm infant weight gain, but study methods vary widely. Future research needs standardized techniques and reporting of adverse events for reliable results.
Area of Science:
- Neonatal care
- Developmental pediatrics
- Evidence-based practice
Background:
- Preterm infants often experience challenges with weight gain.
- Tactile/kinesthetic stimulation, including massage, is explored as an intervention.
- Variability in study methodologies complicates the interpretation of existing research.
Purpose of the Study:
- To critically evaluate the methodologies of clinical trials on tactile/kinesthetic stimulation for preterm infant weight gain.
- To identify commonalities and discrepancies in study designs and interventions.
- To assess the impact of these variations on the reliability of findings.
Main Methods:
- Systematic review of studies from PEDro and PubMed databases (July 2014).
- Inclusion of trials on tactile/kinesthetic stimulation or massage in preterm infants assessing weight gain with a control group.
- Independent assessment of titles and full-text review by two researchers.
Main Results:
- 31 studies met the inclusion criteria.
- Significant heterogeneity was observed in the application of tactile/kinesthetic stimulation techniques, hindering reproducibility.
- Many studies lacked detailed reporting of adverse events and their management.
Conclusions:
- Existing studies suggest tactile/kinesthetic stimulation is a beneficial intervention for preterm infant weight gain.
- A lack of standardized protocols and inconsistent reporting of adverse events limit the establishment of best practices.
- Future research should prioritize methodological rigor and comprehensive adverse event documentation to enable standardization.
Objective:
To verify the methods used by the clinical trials that assessed the effect of tactile/kinesthetic stimulation on weight gain in preterm infants and highlight the similarities and differences among such studies.
Sources:
This review collected studies from two databases, PEDro and PubMed, in July of 2014, in addition to bibliographies. Two researchers assessed the relevant titles independently, and then chose which studies to read in full and include in this review by consensus. Clinical trials that studied tactile stimulation or massage therapy whether or not associated with kinesthetic stimulation of preterm infants; that assessed weight gain after the intervention; that had a control group and were composed in English, Portuguese, or Spanish were included.
Summary Of The Findings:
A total of 520 titles were found and 108 were selected for manuscript reading. Repeated studies were excluded, resulting in 40 different studies. Of these, 31 met all the inclusion criteria. There were many differences in the application of tactile/kinesthetic stimulation techniques among studies, which hindered the accurate reproduction of the procedure. Also, many studies did not describe the adverse events that occurred during stimulation, the course of action taken when such events occurred, and their effect on the outcome.
Conclusions:
These studies made a relevant contribution towards indicating tactile/kinesthetic stimulation as a promising tool. Nevertheless, there was no standard for application among them. Future studies should raise the level of methodological rigor and describe the adverse events. This may permit other researchers to be more aware of expected outcomes, and a standard technique could be established.
