Nonpharmacological Interventions for Sleep Promotion on Preterm Infants in Neonatal Intensive Care Unit: A Systematic Review.

BACKGROUND: Nonpharmacological interventions are often used to promote sleep among preterm infants in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). However, there is a lack of synthesis in the evidence of their effectiveness.

AIM: To synthesize the evidence on the effectiveness of nonpharmacological interventions on NICU preterm infants' sleep during hospital stay.

METHODS: Seven databases were searched, including MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Wan-fang database, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, China Biological Medicine Database, and VIP Journal Integration Platform from their inceptions to August 2017. Randomized controlled trials examining the effects of nonpharmacological interventions on preterm infants' sleep were included.

RESULTS: This review included 36 studies. Nonpharmacological interventions included the Newborn Individualized Developmental Care and Assessment Program (NIDCAP), music, non-nutritive sucking, touch, cycled light, cobedding, rocking, oral sucrose, remolding mattresses, and family nurturing. The meta-analysis results showed that 1. the NIDCAP had no significant effect on total sleep time efficiency (TST%; p = .34); 2. mattress interventions had significant effects on TST% (p < .001); and active sleep efficiency (AS%; p = .006) but no significant effect on quiet sleep efficiency (QS%; p = .75); 3. cycled light increased TST (p = .02); and 4. cobedding had no significant effects on QS% and AS% (p = .63 and p = .88, respectively).

LINKING EVIDENCE TO ACTION: Remolding mattresses and cycled light had significant effects on sleep promotion in preterm infants, but the quality of the evidence was very low. Further high-quality studies are needed to strengthen this evidence.