Preterm Stress Behaviors, Autonomic Indices, and Maternal Perceptions of Infant Colic.
Fumiyuki C Gardner, Cherie S Adkins, Sarah E Hart and 2 others
PMID 29261561WHAT IT FOUND
Neither preterm stress behaviors nor heart-rate variability in the first week predicted mothers' later reports of colic.
Stress and self-consoling behaviors were linked with heart-rate patterns, but not with colic.
Key findings
01Higher cardiac vagal tone was associated with more self-consoling behaviors during care in preterm infants.
02More total stress behaviors were associated with a higher LF/HF ratio and with more self-consoling behaviors.
03Total stress behaviors and heart-rate variability indices were not significantly associated with maternal Infant Colic Scale scores.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
Only 30 infants were studied, and the authors call it a feasibility study, so it cannot establish prediction. Only 19 mothers returned the colic questionnaire, a 63% response rate. The Infant Colic Scale had low internal consistency in this sample, with total alpha .69. Colic was based on mothers' reports at 6-8 weeks adjusted age, not direct clinical observation. The infants were relatively stable and excluded for major abnormalities, so results may not apply to more complex NICU infants.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that heart-rate variability can screen preterm infants for later colic. The study found no significant association between stress behaviors or heart-rate variability and maternal colic scores, and the colic subgroup was small with low questionnaire reliability.