[Kangaroo Mother Care and conventional care: a review of literature]

Low birth weight is one of the major health problems throughout the world. All such neonates can benefit from an effective and efficient human care model - Kangaroo Mother Care. A review of the literature was performed to compare the short and long-term outcome of Kangaroo Mother Care to those of conventional care (incubator). Short-term outcome considered heart and breathing frequency, percutaneous oxygen saturation , transcutaneous oxygen pressure , body temperature, sleep-wake cycles, stress and pain. Long-term outcome considered mortality, somatic, psycho-motor and cognitive development, the incidence of infections and duration of hospitalization. Studies including pre-term neonates were also included. 19 of the 80 studies corresponded to the study criteria and demonstrated that Kangaroo Mother Care is important because it reduces pain and infections, shortens hospitalization, favors breast-feeding: in comparison to neonates treated conventionally, this method results in an earlier and better cognitive and motor development . Concerning body temperature, there were no differences with respect to traditional care. The literature shows that the Kangaroo Mother Care method can be a useful "adjunctive" strategy although further studies are necessary to clarify aspects such as heart and breathing rate and oxygen saturation that appear contradictory.