Sleep of preterm neonates under developmental care or regular environmental conditions.
Sleep is the main behavioral state of the premature infant. In adult intensive care units, sleep deprivation has been reported as one of the major stressors. Developmental care (DC) aims to decrease stressful events in neonatal intensive care unit and support well-being.


OBJECTIVE
To assess whether DC is accompanied by changes in sleep in preterm neonates.


METHODS
A prospective cross-over study included 33 preterm neonates [mean (S.D.): gestational age: 29.3 (1.8) weeks; birth weight: 1245 (336) g]. Polysomnography was performed in two randomly ordered 3-h periods with and without DC. A blinded electrophysiologist analyzed sleep. The total sleep time (TST) was the primary outcome, duration of active (AS), quiet (QS) and indeterminate sleep, and latency before sleep were the secondary outcomes. Non-parametric Wilcoxon tests and ANOVA were used.


RESULTS
In DC condition vs. control: TST increased [in minutes, mean (S.E.M.): 156.2 (2.9) vs. 139.2 (4.6), p=0.002], with increase in AS [86.6 (3.7) vs. 77.0 (4.2), p=0.024] and in QS [47.1 (4.1) vs. 36.9 (4.2), p=0.015], and sleeping latency decreased (2.1 (0.7) vs. 10.5 (2.0), p=0.0005].


CONCLUSIONS
DC promoted sleep in our study. The impact of DC on the neuro-behavioral outcome needs futures studies.
Bertelle
Valerie
V
Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Department of Pediatrics, University Hospital, 29609 Brest, France.
Mabin
Dominique
D
Adrien
Joelle
J
Sizun
Jacques
J
D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002657:Child Development; D006801:Humans; D018730:Infant Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007234:Infant, Premature / Q000502:physiology*; D015931:Intensive Care, Neonatal; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012890:Sleep