A Meta-Analysis of the Efficacy and Safety of Using Oil Massage to Promote Infant Growth

• The synthesizing evidence on the effectiveness of using oil massage to promote the growth of infants is still limited and there is still no relevant meta-analysis to evaluate whether oil massage has adverse skin effects in babies.
• Oil massage can effectively promote infant physical growth and would not increase the risk of skin side effects, and could be considered as a safe neonatal nursing method. However, the effect of oil massage on infant neurodevelopment requires further confirmation.
• The core mechanisms and standard procedures for oil massage as well as the preferred oil type should be a focus of future research.

ProblemThe synthesizing evidence on the effectiveness of using oil massage to promote the growth of infants is still lacking. This paper aims to determine whether oil massage can promote the physical and neurobehavioral growth of infants according to variables and to evaluate whether oil massage is safe for infant skin.Eligibility CriteriaThe randomized controlled trials, clinical controlled trials and quasi-experimentally designed trials published prior to or in 2014 were searched according to predetermined inclusion criteria and exclusion criteria in Medline, PubMed, Ovid, the Cochran Library, and Chinese databases, including the China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wan Fang database and VIP journal integration platform. Besides, the grey lectures were searched as well through Open Grey, GrayLIT Network and Clinical Trials.gov.SampleEight studies out of 625 retrieved articles were eligible for inclusion.ResultsOil massage increased the infant weights, lengths and head circumferences. However, it did not promote a significant advantage in neurobehavioral scores or cause a significant risk of adverse skin reactions.ImplicationsThe core mechanisms and standard procedures of oil massage as well as the preferred oil type should be the focus of future nursing practice and research.ConclusionsOil massage may effectively improve the physical growth of infants, and it presents a limited risk of adverse skin reactions. However, the relationship between neurodevelopment and oil massage requires further study.