The association between infant salivary cortisol and parental presence in the neonatal intensive care unit during and after COVID-19 visitation restrictions: A cross-sectional study
Permanent lenke
https://hdl.handle.net/10037/29257Dato
2023-05-07Type
Journal articleTidsskriftartikkel
Peer reviewed
Forfatter
Brekke, Stine Marie; Halvorsen, Silje Torp; Bjørkvoll, Julie; Thorsby, Per Medbøe; Rønnestad, Arild Erland; Zykova, Svetlana; Bakke, Liv Hanne; Dahl, Sandra Rinne; Haaland, Kirsti; Siw Helen, Westby Eger; Solberg, Marianne Trygg; Solevåg, Anne LeeSammendrag
Objectives: Parent-infant interaction in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) promotes health and reduces
infant stress. During the COVID-19 pandemic, however, NICUs restricted parent-infant interaction to reduce viral
transmission. This study examined the potential relationship between pandemic visitation restrictions, parental
presence and infant stress as measured by salivary cortisol.
Methods: A two-NICU cross-sectional study of infants with gestational age (GA) 23–41 weeks, both during (n =
34) and after (n = 38) visitation restrictions. We analysed parental presence with and without visitation restrictions. The relationship between infant salivary cortisol and self-reported parental NICU presence in hours per
day was analysed using Pearson's r. A linear regression analysis included potential confounders, including GA
and proxies for infant morbidity. The unstandardised B coefficient described the expected change in logtransformed salivary cortisol per unit change in each predictor variable.
Results: Included infants had a mean (standard deviation) GA of 31(5) weeks. Both maternal and paternal NICU
presence was lower with versus without visitation restrictions (both p ≤0.05).
Log-transformed infant salivary cortisol correlated negatively with hours of parental presence (r = − 0.40, p =
.01). In the linear regression, GA (B = -0.03, p = .02) and central venous lines (B = 0.23, p = .04) contributed to
the variance in salivary cortisol in addition to parental presence (B = -0.04 p = .04).
Conclusion: COVID-19–related visitation restrictions reduced NICU parent-infant interaction and may have
increased infant stress. Low GA and central venous lines were associated with higher salivary cortisol. The
interaction between immaturity, morbidity and parental presence was not within the scope of this study and
merits further investigation.
Forlag
ElsevierSitering
Brekke, Halvorsen, Bjørkvoll, Thorsby PM, Rønnestad AE, Zykova s, Bakke, Dahl S, Haaland K, Siw Helen, Solberg MT, Solevåg AL. The association between infant salivary cortisol and parental presence in the neonatal intensive care unit during and after COVID-19 visitation restrictions: A cross-sectional study. Early Human Development. 2023Metadata
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