Korean J Child Health Nurs.  2005 Jan;11(1):125-131.

The Effects of Massage on Stress Hormone in Premature Infants

• Yoo KH

Abstract

PURPOSE
This study was done to evaluate the effects of massage on the level of stress hormone in the urine in preterm infants. METHOD: The design was a nonequivalent control group pretest-posttest design quasi experimental study. Fifty-eight preterm infants were assigned to the experimental(31) or control group(27). The data were collected from March 2002 to August 2003. The massage stimulation was provided to infants in the experimental group for 15-minutes twice a day for 10 days. On day 1 and day 10 of the study, a 24 hour-urine sample was collected for norepinephrine, epinephrine, and cortisol assays. In data analysis, SPSSWIN 10.0 program was utilized for descriptive statistics, ANOVA and t-test.
RESULTS
General characteristics of the two groups showed no significant differences, thus the two groups were found to be homogenous. The 24 hour-urine cortisol of the massage group (t=4.61, p=.000) was significantly reduced compared to the control group after 10 days.
CONCLUSIONS
The results suggest that the massage stimulation can be used to reduce 24 hour-urine cortisol in preterm infants. Therefore, massage provided in the incubator is recommended for reduction of stress in preterm infants who are hospitalized in neonatal intensive care units.

MeSH Terms

Epinephrine
Humans
Hydrocortisone
Incubators
Infant
Infant, Newborn
Infant, Premature*
Intensive Care Units, Neonatal
Massage*
Norepinephrine
Statistics as Topic
Child Health
Epinephrine
Hydrocortisone
Norepinephrine