Thermoregulation, incubator humidity, and skincare practices in appropriate for gestational age ultra-low birth weight infants: need for more evidence
File version
Version of Record (VoR)
Author(s)
August, D
Walker, K
Jani, PR
Tracy, M
Griffith University Author(s)
Primary Supervisor
Other Supervisors
Editor(s)
Date
Size
File type(s)
Location
Abstract
Background: Although not universal, active care is being offered to infants weighing < 500 g at birth, referred to as ultra-low birth weight (ULBW) infants appropriate for gestational age. These infants have the greatest risk of dying or developing major morbidities. ULBW infants face challenges related to fluid and heat loss as well as skin injury in the initial days of life from extreme anatomical and physiological immaturity of the skin. Although there is an emerging literature on the outcomes of ULBW infants, there is a paucity of evidence to inform practice guidelines for delivering optimal care to this cohort of infants. Data sources: A comprehensive review of the literature was performed using the PubMed and Embase databases. Searched keywords included “thermoregulation or body temperature regulation”, “incubator humidity”, “skin care”, “infant, extremely low birth weight” and “ultra-low birth weight infants”. Results: Evidences for thermoregulation, incubator humidity, and skincare practices are available for preterm infants weighing < 1500 g at birth but not specifically for ULBW infants. Studies on thermoregulation, incubator humidity, or skincare practices had a small sample size and did not include a sub-group analysis for ULBW infants. Current practice recommendations in ULBW infants are adopted from research in very and/or extremely low birth weight infants. Conclusions: This narrative review focuses on challenges in thermoregulation, incubator humidity, and skincare practices in ULBW infants, highlights current research gaps and suggests potential developments for informing practices for improving health outcomes in ULBW infants. BwJ2ciAcxpb3jzaGHBSYiVVideo abstract (MP4 1,49,115 kb)
Journal Title
World Journal of Pediatrics
Conference Title
Book Title
Edition
Volume
20
Issue
7
Thesis Type
Degree Program
School
Publisher link
Patent number
Funder(s)
Grant identifier(s)
Rights Statement
Rights Statement
© The Author(s) 2024. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
Item Access Status
Note
Access the data
Related item(s)
Subject
Persistent link to this record
Citation
Mishra, U; August, D; Walker, K; Jani, PR; Tracy, M, Thermoregulation, incubator humidity, and skincare practices in appropriate for gestational age ultra-low birth weight infants: need for more evidence, World Journal of Pediatrics, 2024, 20 (7), pp. 643-652