The synthesizing evidence on the effectiveness of using oil massage to promote the growth of infants is still lacking. This paper aims to determine whether oil massage can promote the physical and neurobehavioral growth of infants according to variables and to evaluate whether oil massage is safe for infant skin.
Eligibility criteria: The randomized controlled trials, clinical controlled trials and quasi-experimentally designed trials published prior to or in 2014 were searched according to predetermined inclusion criteria and exclusion criteria in Medline, PubMed, Ovid, the Cochran Library, and Chinese databases, including the China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wan Fang database and VIP journal integration platform. Besides, the grey lectures were searched as well through Open Grey, GrayLIT Network and Clinical Trials.gov.
Sample: Eight studies out of 625 retrieved articles were eligible for inclusion.
Results: Oil massage increased the infant weights, lengths and head circumferences. However, it did not promote a significant advantage in neurobehavioral scores or cause a significant risk of adverse skin reactions.
Implications: The core mechanisms and standard procedures of oil massage as well as the preferred oil type should be the focus of future nursing practice and research.
Conclusions: Oil massage may effectively improve the physical growth of infants, and it presents a limited risk of adverse skin reactions. However, the relationship between neurodevelopment and oil massage requires further study.
Keywords: Growth and development; Infant; Massage therapy; Meta-analysis; Oil.
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