Aquaphor Reduces Preemie Mortality and Skin Infections

Monday, March 10, 2008 20:26

Posted in category Preemies

Preemies, especially extremely preterm babies are born with very fragile skin, which is so thin and delicate, it can sometimes tear. This thin, immature skin is a problem, because it causes preterm babies to lose moisture, and is a route for infections to enter their bodies.

A new study examining this issue has shown that a daily topical application of emollients like sunflower seed oil or Aquaphor significantly decreased mortality rates, skin infections and sepsis in preemies less than 33 weeks gestation hospitalized in a children’s hospital in Bangladesh. Starting within 72 hours of birth, emollients were applied to the whole body, excluding the face and scalp, three times a day for the first two weeks and then twice daily until discharge. Mortality rates were decreased by 32% in the babies treated with Aquaphor, and by 26% in the babies treated with sunflower seed oil.

While overall survival rates in the hospital studied were much lower than those seen in the United States (only 29.4% in the control group at one month), sepsis and other infections are still a serious problem here. If such a simple and relatively inexpensive intervention can have such a massive impact on survival, it seems to warrant further investigation, although the three times a day handling required to apply the emollients to the skin certainly flies in the face of typical NICU management of micro preemies.

It would be very interesting to see results of similar studies from American or European NICUs. If anyone knows of such a study, I’d love to read it, so please post a link in the comments section.

Reference: G Darmstadt, S Saha, N Ahmed, S Ahmed, A Chowdhury, P Law,R Rosenberg, R Black and M Santosha. Effect of Skin Barrier Therapy on Neonatal Mortality Rates in Preterm Infants in Bangladesh: A Randomized, Controlled, Clinical Trial. Pediatrics. Vol. 121 No. 3 March 2008, pp. 522-529 (doi:10.1542/peds.2007-0213).