Introduction: The kangaroo mother care (KMC) technique for preterm and low-birthweight (LBW) neonates, which consists of skin-to-skin contact, is thought to have a beneficial impact on clinical outcomes. Hence, the current meta-analysis aims to evaluate the influence of KMC on neonatal mortality and length of hospitalization compared with conventional care.
Material and methods: A systematic literature search of studies published between 1988 and 2021 found 24 trials involving 19,980 participants, of which 10,354 received KMC and 9626 were controls under conventional care. To measure the impact of applying KMC in preterm LBW neonates on mortality and the length of hospital stay, statistical analysis using dichotomous and continuous analysis methods was performed employing fixed and random models to calculate odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs).
Results: Compared to the control group, the application of KMC in preterm LBW neonates resulted in significantly lower mortality (OR: 0.65, 95% CI: 0.44-0.97, p = 0.03) in a short term (within 2 months, I2 = 71%) and long term (3-12 months) (OR: 0.72, 95% CI: 0.59-0.87, p = 0.0007, I2 = 0%), and had no significant impact on the length of hospital stay (OR: -1.43, 95% CI: -2.88-0.02, p = 0.05, I2 = 86%).
Conclusion: In comparison with the control group, the implementation of KMC in preterm LBW neonates resulted in significantly lower mortality but had no significant impact on the length of hospitalization. More studies are needed to confirm the current findings.
Keywords: hospital stay; kangaroo mother care; mortality; preterm neonates.