Sensory stimulation program improves developments of preterm infants in Southwest China: A randomized controlled trial

Abstract

Preterm infants are prone to growth and developmental delay, especially social-emotional development. Sensory stimulation may benefit developmental outcomes for these vulnerable infants. This study aims to determine whether 5-integrated sensory stimulation (5-ISS) improves preterm infant social-emotional development. A randomized, parallel trial was conducted from November 2018 to January 2020 at three tertiary hospitals in Kunming, China. Preterm infants were eligible if gestational ages were from 28 to 36 weeks based on ultrasound results when discharged from neonatal wards. Two hundred preterm infants (male n = 110, female n = 90) were randomly allocated to the 5-ISS intervention group (n = 98) and the standard care group (n = 102). Social-emotional development was assessed with the Ages and Stages Questionnaires: Social-Emotional (ASQ:SE). Temperament was assessed with the Infant Behavior Questionnaire-Revised. Anthropometry, which included weight, length, and head circumference, was measured at corrected ages of 1, 3, and 6 months. Demographic and clinical characteristics were similar between the intervention and the standard care groups. At 1- and 3-month corrected age, no significant differences between the two groups were observed in terms of infant development and temperament. At 6 months, significant disparities were found in the social-emotional development scale (mean difference −0.29, 95% CI: −0.58, < -0.001, p = 0.01), infant length (mean difference 0.70, 95% CI: < 0.001, 1.4, p = 0.03), distress to limitation (p = 0.04), and sadness (p = 0.03). A mixed model revealed that the 5-ISS intervention positively affected social-emotional development, length, distress to limitation, and sadness for preterm infants. Integrated sensory stimulation has benefits on social-emotional development, temperament, and length for preterm infants. This program provides a feasible method to promote social-emotional development for preterm infants.

An Easy and Practical Tool to Detect the Neurodevelopmental Status in the First Two Years of Life

“…Looking at the adult's mouth and imitating some facial movements represent the precursors of preverbal communicative intentionality [41]. It is interesting to note how the items in which the "High Risk" children received high scores seem to indicate a vulnerability between sensory-perceptive-motor development and early relational skills, aspects which are very important to analyze within health checkup and screening, in order to identify early vulnerability of the child or the family system [42,43]. For example, the coexistence of "difficulty to breastfeeding attachment" and "difficulty to imitate mouth movements" may underlie a sensory-motor immaturity that could have repercussions on the relationship sphere or, otherwise, a social-affective vulnerability that limits the specialization of motor functions (in this case oral) [35].…”