Objective:To evaluate the influence of body position on the displacement of nasal
prongs in preterm infants.Methods:This prospective, randomized, crossover study enrolled infants born at a mean
gestational age of 29.7±2 weeks, birth weight of 1353±280g and
2.9±2.2 days of life, submitted to continuous positive airway
pressure by nasal prongs. The main outcome was the number of times that the
nasal prongs were displaced following infant positioning in the following
body positions: prone, right lateral, left lateral, and supine, according to
a pre-established random order. Moreover, cardiorespiratory variables
(respiratory rate, heart rate, and oxygen saturation) were evaluated for
each body position. Data for each position were collected every 10 min, over
a period of 60 min. An occurrence was defined when the nasal prongs were
displaced from the nostrils after 3 min in the desired position, requiring
intervention of the examiner.Results:Among the 16 studied infants, the occurrence of nasal prong displacement was
only observed in the prone position (9 infants - 56.2%) and in the left
lateral position (2 infants - 12.5%). The number of times that the prongs
were displaced was 11 in the prone position (7 within the first 10min) and 2
in the left lateral position (1 within the first 10min). No clinically
significant changes were observed in the cardiorespiratory variables.Conclusions:Maintenance of the nasal prongs to provide adequate noninvasive respiratory
support was harder in the prone position.