Abstract
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.
Keywords
massage - preterm infant - weight gain - hospital stay - NBAS