A Systematic Review of the Effects of Skin-to-Skin Contact on Biomarkers of Stress in Preterm Infants and Parents.
Dorothy Forde, Min Lin Fang, Christine Miaskowski
PMID 34054011WHAT IT FOUND
Skin-to-skin contact did not consistently lower infant cortisol.
Parent cortisol fell in some studies, oxytocin rose in others, and a small study suggested lower oxidative stress, so the stress-marker evidence remains mixed.
Key findings
01Infant cortisol changes after skin-to-skin contact were inconsistent: two pre-/posttest studies and six randomized trials found no difference, while one study found a decrease.
02Parent cortisol decreased after skin-to-skin contact in five studies and showed no difference in four studies; oxytocin increased during contact in both studies that measured it.
03One pilot study found lower mean allantoin levels in infants who received skin-to-skin contact.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
Only English-language studies were included. The included studies had small and varied samples. Skin-to-skin contact duration, number of sessions, initiation timing, and comparator procedures varied widely. Biomarker collection timing varied, and cortisol measures may have been affected by diurnal rhythm. No meta-analysis was done because of heterogeneity. The oxidative stress marker was tested in only a single pilot study. The review reports different totals for included studies in different sections.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read this review as proof that skin-to-skin contact reliably lowers stress biomarkers in preterm infants. Infant cortisol results were inconsistent, and the oxytocin and oxidative stress findings came from few small studies.