A Systematic Review of Positioning of Preterm Infants for Optimal Physiological Development.

Objectives: Objective of this review is to determine the best available evidence related to the positioning of preterm infants. Questions: The following questions will be addressed in this review: 1. What are the physiological outcomes affected by different positioning of preterm infants? 2. What is the best position for promoting sleep among preterm infants? Criteria for considering studies for this review: Types of participants This review considered all studies that included healthy infants born before 37 weeks of gestational age in any hospital setting, including those admitted to newborn nurseries, neonatal intensive care units, and medical clinics. Types of Intervention Interventions of interest are those related to positioning of preterm infants including prone, supine, side-lying, and head elevated tilt position. Types of outcome measures Outcomes of interest are as follow: • physiologic effects including respiratory function ( oxygen saturation, tidal volume, functional residual capacity, respiratory rate ), hemodynamic ( heart rate, blood pressure ), neuromotor development ( motor activity ), and gastric function ( gastro esophageal reflux, gastric residual ) • sleep state classified as awake, active sleep, quiet sleep or indeterminate sleep.