The effects of developmental care on short-term outcomes of preterm infants: A quasi-experimental study

Abstract

Background: Technological advances in neonatal care have increased the survival rate of preterm infants, but they have not been able to reduce the risk of the multiple complications developing in them. Objectives: To determine the short-term effects of developmental care on preterm infants. Methods: The present quasi-experimental studywasconductedon105 preterm infants (three groups of 35) born in Al-Zahra hospital of Tabriz, Iran, from September 2013 to November 2015. The sampling method was convenience, based on study’s eligibility criteria. The control group received no developmental care. Intervention group 1 received developmental care at the neonatal intensive care unit and the neonatal ward, and intervention group 2 received developmental care from birth in the delivery and operating rooms and continued to receive it at the NICU and the neonatal ward. Short-term neonatal outcomes were analyzed with descriptive and inferential statistics. Results: The overall duration of hospital staywassignificantly shorter in intervention group 2comparedto the control group(mean difference: - 13.6; confidence interval: -24.8 to -2.4; P = 0.013) and intervention group 1 (-12.5; -23.7 to-1.3; P = 0.024), and the duration of NICU stay was also shorter in intervention group 2 compared to the control group (-12.4; -22.2 to -2.5; P = 0.009). The incidence of sepsis was significantly lower in intervention groups 1 and 2 compared to the control group, and the incidence of prematurity anemia and the need for blood transfusion were also significantly lower in intervention group 2 compared to intervention group 1 and the control group (P < 0.05). No significant differences were observed between the groups in terms of neonatal growth parameters at full term corrected age. Conclusions: The results obtained showed that developmental care for preterm infants, especially when initiated as early as in the delivery and operating room, can improve certain short-term neonatal outcomes.