J Korean Soc Matern Child Health.  2018 Jan;22(1):25-34. 10.21896/jksmch.2018.22.1.25.

Effects of Infant Massage Therapy on Transcutaneous Bilirubin, Feeding, and Excretion in Neonates with Jaundice Undergoing Phototherapy

• Jeong SJ
• Park MK

• KMID: 2412471
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.21896/jksmch.2018.22.1.25

Abstract

PURPOSE
This paper reports the results of a massage therapy on transcutaneous bilirubin (TcB) in the forehead and inguinal regions, feeding intake, urine amount, and defecation frequency for neonates with jaundice who are receiving phototherapy.
METHODS
A non-equivalent control group, pre-post, quasi-experimental design was used. Participants were 33 neonates with jaundice admitted for phototherapy and were randomly assigned to one of two groups"”an experimental group (n=16), which received 3 days of routine plus 15 minutes of massage three times a day, and a control group (n=17), which received the routine care only. Data were analyzed using χ²-test and Mann-Whitney U test with SPSS 21.0 Win program.
RESULTS
On the second day of hospitalization, the experimental group showed significantly lower TcB in the inguinal region (Z=−2.12, p=0.017); on the third day, the experimental group showed significantly lower TcB in the inguinal region (Z=−2.31, p=0.011) and higher defecation frequency (Z=−2.22, p=0.013) compared with the control group.
CONCLUSIONS
The study findings suggest that massage for jaundice neonates receiving phototherapy is an effective intervention to reduce TcB in the inguinal region and to increase defecation frequency.

Keyword

jaundice; neonate; massage; bilirubin; excretion

MeSH Terms

Bilirubin*
Defecation
Forehead
Hospitalization
Humans
Infant*
Infant, Newborn*
Jaundice*
Massage*
Phototherapy*
Bilirubin