Effect of Field massage on physiological jaundice in infants: a randomized Clinical trial

Background: Jaundice is the most common cause of infant’s hospitalization. Infancy and especially the first few days after birth has important role on human mental and psychophysical Health in the future. Aim: To investigate the effects of massage on infants’ physiological jaundice. Methods: This single-blind clinical trial was performed at Tabriz Alzahra hospital. In this study, 47 healthy full-term infants, which their first day serum bilirubin was less than 5 mg/dl, were selected with accessibility sampling method. The participants were randomly assigned to case (n=22) and control (n=25) groups.  The neonates in the case group were massaged by mother for 4 days from the first day of birth. The control group received routine care only. The main variables of study included skin bilirubin level, number of defecations and time of passage of first meconium. Data analysis was applied by SPSS 13 using chi square, Mann-whitney U and Independent t-test. Results: Within four days of study, there was no statistically significant differences between the two groups in terms of skin bilirubin and number of defecations (p>0.05). The mean time (95% CI= - 7.53, - 0.10) of passage of the first meconium in case group was less than that in the control group which was statistically significant (P= 0.044). Conclusion: The results show that neonates massage within four days has no effect on skin bilirubin level but it will affect on the incidence of physiologic jaundice by diminishing the time of passage of the first meconium.