Developmental intervention for preterm infants diagnosed with periventricular leukomalacia

Preterm infants with periventricular leukomalacia (PVL) were evaluated to d etermine whether multi-sensory stimulation is safe and to assess whether it improved neurobehavior and neurodevelopment. Thirty preterm infants with d ocumented PVL were randomly assigned to control (n= 15) or experimental (Gr oup E) (n= 15) groups at 33 weeks post-conceptional age. Group E infants re ceived 15 minutes of auditory, tactile, visual, and vestibular (ATVV) inter vention twice a day, five days a week, for four weeks during hospitalizatio n. Repeated measures ANOVA demonstrated that Group E infants experienced si gnificant increases in heart and respiratory rate and a 0.72% drop in hemog lobin saturation, coinciding with a significant behavioral state shift from sleep to alertness during intervention. No differences were identified in neurobehavioral function and neurodevelopment, indicating that Group E suff ered no injury. Group E had an average hospital stay nine days shorter than that of controls, with the associated cost savings of $213,840. The earlie r hospital discharge indicates that ATVV intervention promotes alertness wi thout compromising physiologic status in vulnerable infants. (C) 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.