Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on developmental care practices for infants born preterm

  1. Melissa Scala
  2. Virginia A. Marchman
  3. Edith Brignoni-Pérez
  4. Maya Chan Morales
  5. Sarah E. Dubner
  6. Katherine E. Travis

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Abstract

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  1. Version published to 10.1016/j.earlhumdev.2021.105483
  2. ScreenIT

    SciScore for 10.1101/2020.11.25.20238956: (What is this?)

    Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.

    Table 1: Rigor

    Institutional Review Board Statementnot detected.
    Randomizationnot detected.
    Blindingnot detected.
    Power Analysisnot detected.
    Sex as a biological variableParticipants: Participants were infants (N=52; 20 females, 32 males) born very preterm (< 32 GA).

    Table 2: Resources

    No key resources detected.

    Results from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when possible (see Nature blog).

    Results from LimitationRecognizer: We detected the following sentences addressing limitations in the study:
    Although bedside nurses were unaffected by limitations to visitation, they were not immune to more subtle psychological impacts of a pandemic and may have felt undersupported by other staff members. Concerns about the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on family visitation in the NICU and engagement have been raised5,6; however, our study is the first to document the concrete existence and degree of the feared impact. Although reduction in family visitation is not an unexpected finding considering the changes to hospital policies, it represents a significant threat to parent-infant bonding, the delivery of important parent-delivered care activities9–11, and positive health outcomes for parents and infants12–14. DC has shown to produce positive impacts on both short-term (cardiorespiratory stability, growth, infection rates) and long-term (neurodevelopmental) outcomes15, raising concerns that care may have been compromised in the NICU and that this impact may be long-lasting. Concerning also is the impact on parental mental health. Qualitative analysis of NICU parent surveys around COVID-19-related visitation restrictions revealed that over 50% of parents were experiencing increased sadness or anger and 25% were distressed by feelings of separation from either partners or the newborn16. It is somewhat heartening to see that frequency was more affected than duration; if parents were able to visit and engage with their infants, the length of engagement was only partially affected....

    Results from TrialIdentifier: No clinical trial numbers were referenced.

    Results from Barzooka: We did not find any issues relating to the usage of bar graphs.

    Results from JetFighter: We did not find any issues relating to colormaps.

    Results from rtransparent:
    • Thank you for including a conflict of interest statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • Thank you for including a funding statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • No protocol registration statement was detected.

    About SciScore

    SciScore is an automated tool that is designed to assist expert reviewers by finding and presenting formulaic information scattered throughout a paper in a standard, easy to digest format. SciScore checks for the presence and correctness of RRIDs (research resource identifiers), and for rigor criteria such as sex and investigator blinding. For details on the theoretical underpinning of rigor criteria and the tools shown here, including references cited, please follow this link.

  3. Version published to 10.1101/2020.11.25.20238956v1 on medRxiv