Unlike Kangaroo care, mechanically simulated Kangaroo care does not change heart rate variability in preterm neonates

Deedee Kommers; Rohan Joshi; Carola van Pul; Loe Feijs; Guid Oei; Sidarto Bambang Oetomo; Peter Andriessen

doi:10.1016/j.earlhumdev.2018.04.031

Unlike Kangaroo care, mechanically simulated Kangaroo care does not change heart rate variability in preterm neonates

Early Hum Dev. 2018 Jun:121:27-32. doi: 10.1016/j.earlhumdev.2018.04.031. Epub 2018 May 5.

Authors

Deedee Kommers¹, Rohan Joshi², Carola van Pul³, Loe Feijs⁴, Guid Oei⁵, Sidarto Bambang Oetomo⁶, Peter Andriessen⁷

Affiliations

¹ Department of Neonatology, Máxima Medical Centre, Veldhoven, The Netherlands; Department of Industrial Design, Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands. Electronic address: Deedee.Kommers@mmc.nl.
² Department of Industrial Design, Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands; Department of Clinical Physics, Máxima Medical Centre Veldhoven, The Netherlands; Patient Care & Measurements Department, Philips Research, Eindhoven, The Netherlands.
³ Department of Clinical Physics, Máxima Medical Centre Veldhoven, The Netherlands; Department of Applied Physics, Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands.
⁴ Department of Industrial Design, Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands.
⁵ Department of Gynecology, Máxima Medical Centre, Veldhoven, The Netherlands; Department of Electrical Engineering, Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands.
⁶ Department of Neonatology, Máxima Medical Centre, Veldhoven, The Netherlands; Department of Industrial Design, Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands.
⁷ Department of Neonatology, Máxima Medical Centre, Veldhoven, The Netherlands.

PMID: 29738894
DOI: 10.1016/j.earlhumdev.2018.04.031

Abstract

Background: While numerous positive effects of Kangaroo care (KC) have been reported, the duration that parents can spend kangarooing is often limited.

Aim: To investigate whether a mattress that aims to mimic breathing motion and the sounds of heartbeats (BabyBe GMBH, Stuttgart, Germany) can simulate aspects of KC in preterm infants as measured by features of heart rate variability (HRV).

Methods: A within-subject study design was employed in which every routine KC session was followed by a BabyBe (BB) session, with a washout period of at least 2 h in between. Nurses annotated the start and end times of KC and BB sessions. Data from the pre-KC, KC, post-KC, pre-BB, BB and post-BB were retrieved from the patient monitor via a data warehouse. Five time-domain features of HRV were used to compare both types of intervention. Two of these features, the percentage of decelerations (pDec) and the standard deviation of decelerations (SDDec), were developed in a previous study to capture the contribution of transient heart rate decelerations to HRV, a measure of regulatory instability.

Results: A total of 182 KC and 180 BabyBe sessions were analyzed in 20 preterm infants. Overall, HRV decreased during KC and after KC. Two of the five features showed a decrease during KC, and all features decreased in the post-KC period (p ≤ 0.01). The BB mattress as employed in this study did not affect HRV.

Conclusion: Unlike KC, a mattress that attempts to mimic breathing motion and heartbeat sounds does not affect HRV of preterm infants.

Keywords: Autonomic regulation; Heart rate variability; Kangaroo care, preterm infants; Simulation.

Publication types

Observational Study

MeSH terms

Autonomic Nervous System / physiology
Beds
Female
Heart Rate*
Humans
Infant, Newborn
Infant, Premature / physiology*
Kangaroo-Mother Care Method / instrumentation
Kangaroo-Mother Care Method / methods*
Male