This article presents the findings of a case-control study of Kangaroo-mother care (KMC) among mothers in Bogota, Colombia. The study group included mothers from one hospital in Bogota who were encouraged to maintain skin-to-skin contact with their infants, with frequent breast feeding and early discharge from the maternity unit. The other hospital relied on traditional care. Findings indicate that infant mortality rates were similar with both types of care. The KMC infants were at higher risk of an adverse outcome. More detailed analysis was made of infants weighing under 2000 g. 1084 KMC infants with low birth weights were considered for inclusion in the study. These infants were required to be free of infections, adjusted to extrauterine life, and free of malformations or diseases. This reduced the random sample to 382 infants allocated to KMC and 364 allocated to traditional care. KMC required the following: strapping the baby upright to the mother's chest in skin-to-skin contact, frequent breast feeding, formula supplements if weight gain did not exceed 20 g/day, and early discharge. Traditional care included incubation until the temperature stabilized, discharge after reaching 1700 g, and severely restricted parents' access. A comparison between the two infant groups showed similar mortality rates: 1.6

作者：L W, Doyle

来源：Lancet (London, England) 1997 年 350卷 9093期