Objective: To determine whether massage could help preterm infants improve weight gain, discharge from the hospital earlier, and promote the neurobehavioral development, a meta-analysis was conducted.
Study design: MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL, Dissertation Abstracts, and the Cochrane Library were searched up to January 2012. There were no language restrictions.
Results: In all, 611 articles were retrieved and 17 studies were eligible. Massage intervention improved daily weight gain by 5.32 g (95% confidence interval [CI] 4.15, 6.49, p < 0.00001) and reduced length of stay by 4.41 days (95% CI 2.81, 6.02, p < 0.00001). No significant differences yielded on the scores of Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale.
Conclusion: Massage therapy may be a safe and cost-effective practice to improve weight gain and decrease the hospital stay of clinically stable preterm infants. However, the association between massage and neurobehavioral development is still elusive. Future investigations with a larger sample size and strict protocol are required to confirm the effects of massage on the preterm infants.
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