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 randomly 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.