Conclusion Current evidence suggests that developmental care in only NICU setting could have significant effect on mental and motor development of preterm infants , especially at 12 months of age .
Background The aim of this study was to review the effects of developmental care in neonatal intensive care unit ( NICU ) setting on mental and motor development of preterm infants .
Massage therapy improves neurodevelopment outcome at two years corrected age for very low birth weight infants.
BACKGROUND Long term effects of massage therapy in very preterm newborns infants are still to be described . Few studies evaluated neurodevelopment just at six months , and included late preterm infants . OBJECTIVE To study the effect of massage therapy on neurodevelopment of very low birth weight infants at two years corrected age . STUDY DESIGN Newborns with birth weight between > or= 750 and < or= 1500 g and gestational age < or= 32 weeks were r and omly assigned to massage therapy by mothers plus skin-to-skin care ( Intervention Group ) or just skin-to-skin care ( Control Group ) during their hospital stay . Growth and neurodevelopment outcome were evaluated at 2 years corrected age . RESULTS We followed 73 newborns ( 35 in Intervention Group , and 38 in Control Group ) . Both groups were similar in neonatal data .  Growth at 2 years corrected age was similar in both groups . Intervention Group had borderline higher Psychomotor Development Index and significantly higher Mental Development Index scores than Control Group . CONCLUSIONS We suggest that massage therapy by mothers combined to skin-to-skin care during neonatal hospital stay improves neurodevelopment outcome at 2 years corrected age
Conclusion Current evidence suggests that developmental care in only NICU setting could have significant effect on mental and motor development of preterm infants , especially at 12 months of age .
Background The aim of this study was to review the effects of developmental care in neonatal intensive care unit ( NICU ) setting on mental and motor development of preterm infants .