Kangaroo Mother Care Shows Mortality Benefits for Preterm, Low-Weight Infants

WEDNESDAY, June 7, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- Kangaroo mother care (KMC) provides a mortality benefit, especially when initiated early, in preterm and low birth-weight infants, according to a review published online June 5 in BMJ Global Health.

Sindhu Sivanandan, M.B.B.S., from the Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research in Puducherry, India, and Mari Jeeva Sankar, M.D., from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi, conducted a systematic literature review to compare the effects of KMC versus conventional care and early (<24 hours of birth) versus late initiation of KMC on neonatal mortality.

Based on 31 identified trials (15,559 infants), the researchers found that KMC reduces the risk for mortality (high-certainty evidence) during birth hospitalization or at 28 days of age. Additionally, KMC was found to probably reduce severe infection until the latest follow-up (moderate-certainty evidence). The reduction in mortality was noted irrespective of gestational age or weight at enrollment, as well as regardless of time of initiation and place of initiation of KMC (hospital or community). The greatest mortality benefits were seen when KMC lasted for at least eight hours per day. Early initiation of KMC showed a reduction in neonatal mortality (high-certainty evidence) and a probable decrease in clinical sepsis until 28 days (low-certainty evidence) compared with late initiation of KMC.

"The results of this updated review will likely influence health providers to initiate KMC in all low birth weight and preterm infants managed in health facilities and at home," the authors write.

Abstract/Full Text