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Maternal Singing but Not Speech Enhances Vagal Activity in Preterm Infants during Hospitalization: Preliminary Results

Background: Early parental interventions in the Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICUs) have beneficial effects on preterm infants’ short and long-term outcomes. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of Early Vocal Contact (EVC)—singing and speaking—on preterm infants’ vagal activity an...

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Autores principales: Filippa, Manuela, Nardelli, Mimma, Della Casa, Elisa, Berardi, Alberto, Picciolini, Odoardo, Meloni, Sara, Lunardi, Clara, Cecchi, Alessandra, Sansavini, Alessandra, Corvaglia, Luigi, Scilingo, Enzo Pasquale, Ferrari, Fabrizio
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8869818/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35204861
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/children9020140
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author Filippa, Manuela
Nardelli, Mimma
Della Casa, Elisa
Berardi, Alberto
Picciolini, Odoardo
Meloni, Sara
Lunardi, Clara
Cecchi, Alessandra
Sansavini, Alessandra
Corvaglia, Luigi
Scilingo, Enzo Pasquale
Ferrari, Fabrizio
author_facet Filippa, Manuela
Nardelli, Mimma
Della Casa, Elisa
Berardi, Alberto
Picciolini, Odoardo
Meloni, Sara
Lunardi, Clara
Cecchi, Alessandra
Sansavini, Alessandra
Corvaglia, Luigi
Scilingo, Enzo Pasquale
Ferrari, Fabrizio
author_sort Filippa, Manuela
collection PubMed
description Background: Early parental interventions in the Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICUs) have beneficial effects on preterm infants’ short and long-term outcomes. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of Early Vocal Contact (EVC)—singing and speaking—on preterm infants’ vagal activity and autonomic nervous system (ANS) maturation. Methods: In this multi-center randomized clinical trial, twenty-four stable preterm infants, born at 25–32 weeks gestational age, were randomized to either the EVC group or control group, where mothers did not interact with the babies but observed their behavior. Heart Rate Variability (HRV) was acquired before intervention (pre-condition), during vocal contact, and after it (post condition). Results: No significant effect of the vocal contact, singing and speaking, was found in HRV when the intervention group was compared to the control group. However, a significant difference between the singing and the pre and post conditions, respectively, preceding and following the singing intervention, was found in the Low and High Frequency power nu, and in the low/high frequency features (p = 0.037). By contrast, no significant effect of the speaking was found. Conclusions: Maternal singing, but not speaking, enhances preterm infants’ vagal activity in the short-term, thus improving the ANS stability. Future analyses will investigate the effect of enhanced vagal activity on short and long-term developmental outcomes of preterm infants in the NICU.
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spelling pubmed-88698182022-02-25 Maternal Singing but Not Speech Enhances Vagal Activity in Preterm Infants during Hospitalization: Preliminary Results Filippa, Manuela Nardelli, Mimma Della Casa, Elisa Berardi, Alberto Picciolini, Odoardo Meloni, Sara Lunardi, Clara Cecchi, Alessandra Sansavini, Alessandra Corvaglia, Luigi Scilingo, Enzo Pasquale Ferrari, Fabrizio Children (Basel) Article Background: Early parental interventions in the Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICUs) have beneficial effects on preterm infants’ short and long-term outcomes. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of Early Vocal Contact (EVC)—singing and speaking—on preterm infants’ vagal activity and autonomic nervous system (ANS) maturation. Methods: In this multi-center randomized clinical trial, twenty-four stable preterm infants, born at 25–32 weeks gestational age, were randomized to either the EVC group or control group, where mothers did not interact with the babies but observed their behavior. Heart Rate Variability (HRV) was acquired before intervention (pre-condition), during vocal contact, and after it (post condition). Results: No significant effect of the vocal contact, singing and speaking, was found in HRV when the intervention group was compared to the control group. However, a significant difference between the singing and the pre and post conditions, respectively, preceding and following the singing intervention, was found in the Low and High Frequency power nu, and in the low/high frequency features (p = 0.037). By contrast, no significant effect of the speaking was found. Conclusions: Maternal singing, but not speaking, enhances preterm infants’ vagal activity in the short-term, thus improving the ANS stability. Future analyses will investigate the effect of enhanced vagal activity on short and long-term developmental outcomes of preterm infants in the NICU. MDPI 2022-01-21 /pmc/articles/PMC8869818/ /pubmed/35204861 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/children9020140 Text en © 2022 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Filippa, Manuela
Nardelli, Mimma
Della Casa, Elisa
Berardi, Alberto
Picciolini, Odoardo
Meloni, Sara
Lunardi, Clara
Cecchi, Alessandra
Sansavini, Alessandra
Corvaglia, Luigi
Scilingo, Enzo Pasquale
Ferrari, Fabrizio
Maternal Singing but Not Speech Enhances Vagal Activity in Preterm Infants during Hospitalization: Preliminary Results
title Maternal Singing but Not Speech Enhances Vagal Activity in Preterm Infants during Hospitalization: Preliminary Results
title_full Maternal Singing but Not Speech Enhances Vagal Activity in Preterm Infants during Hospitalization: Preliminary Results
title_fullStr Maternal Singing but Not Speech Enhances Vagal Activity in Preterm Infants during Hospitalization: Preliminary Results
title_full_unstemmed Maternal Singing but Not Speech Enhances Vagal Activity in Preterm Infants during Hospitalization: Preliminary Results
title_short Maternal Singing but Not Speech Enhances Vagal Activity in Preterm Infants during Hospitalization: Preliminary Results
title_sort maternal singing but not speech enhances vagal activity in preterm infants during hospitalization: preliminary results
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8869818/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35204861
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/children9020140
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