INTRODUCTION: Little research has been conducted looking at the effects of osteopathic manipulative treatment (OMT) on preterm infants. AIM OF THE STUDY: This study hypothesized that osteopathic care is effective in reducing length of hospital stay and that early OMT produces the most pronounced benefit, compared to moderately early and late OMT. A secondary outcome was to estimate hospital cost savings by the use of OMT. METHODS: 110 newborns ranging from 32- to 37-week gestation were randomized to receive either OMT or usual pediatric care. Early, moderately early, and late OMT were defined as < 4, < 9, and < 14 days from birth, respectively. RESULT: Hospital stay was shorter in infants receiving late OMT (-2.03; 95% CI -3.15 to -0.91; p < 0.01) than controls. Subgroup analysis of infants receiving early and moderately early OMT resulted in shorter LOS (early OMT -4.16; -6.05 to -2.27; p < 0.001; moderately early OMT -3.12; -4.36 to -1.89; p < 0.001). Costs analysis showed that OMT significantly produced a net saving of Euro 740 (-1,309.54 to -170.33; p = 0.01) per newborn per LOS. CONCLUSIONS: This study shows evidence that the sooner OMT is provided, the shorter their hospital stay is. There is also a positive association of OMT with overall reduction in cost of care.

Full text (sometimes free) may be available at these link(s):      help

• PubMed Central
• DOI
• PubMed
• PDF locator
• publisher