title: The Stockholm Neonatal Family-Centered Care Study: effects on salivary cortisol in infants and their mothers.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Parental involvement in the care of preterm infants in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) is common, but little is known about the effect on stress responses in mothers and infants.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study is to evaluate the effect of family-centered care on salivary cortisol reactivity in mothers and preterm infants and the correlation between the mothers' and the preterm infants' salivary cortisol levels.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study is part of a randomized controlled trial conducted at two level-II NICUs, including Family Care (FC), where parents were able to stay 24h/day from admission to discharge, and Standard Care (SC). To investigate the cortisol response, saliva was collected from 289 preterm infants and their mothers before and after a diaper change at the time of discharge.
  
  
  RESULTS
  No significant differences were found between the two groups in salivary cortisol reactivity, either in mothers or in infants. The results revealed a correlation between preterm infants' and their mothers' baseline and response cortisol in the FC group: r=0.31 (p=0.001) and r=0.24 (p=0.01), respectively. Such correlation was not observed in the SC group: r=0.14 (p=0.14) and r=0.18 (p=0.07), respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Family-centered care had no effect on salivary cortisol reactivity during diaper change. However, sharing the same environment may increase the concordance between preterm infants' and their mothers' salivary cortisol levels.
authors.affiliation: Department of Social and Welfare Studies, Faculty of Health Sciences, Linköping University, Sweden. evalotte.morelius@liu.se
authors.forename: Evalotte
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Mörelius
authors.forename: Eva Berggren
authors.initials: EB
authors.lastname: Broström
authors.forename: Björn
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Westrup
authors.forename: Ihsan
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Sarman
authors.forename: Annica
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Örtenstrand
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000465:Algorithms; D017322:Clinical Trials, Phase II as Topic; D041381:Diapers, Infant; D022143:Family Nursing; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006854:Hydrocortisone / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism*; D007224:Infant Care / Q000523:psychology*; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D009034:Mother-Child Relations; D015337:Multicenter Studies as Topic; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D012463:Saliva / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D014427:Twins
chemical_list: D006854:Hydrocortisone