A clinical stability index to help providers determine KMC eligibility
Research type
Research Study
Full title
The OMWaNA Study: Operationalising kangaroo Mother care among unstable low birth Weight Neonates in Africa: Developing and validating a clinical stability index to help providers determine eligibility
IRAS ID
238074
Contact name
Melissa Morgan
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 4 months, 31 days
Research summary
Each year, 15 million babies are born too soon (before 37 weeks of pregnancy). One million babies die as a result of related problems every year. Kangaroo mother care (KMC) consists of skin-to-skin contact (usually with the mother) and breastfeeding for babies weighing 2000 grams or less. KMC is associated with improved survival and decreased infection, hypothermia (low body temperature), and length of hospitalisation in babies who are stable (healthy or mildly sick). Most babies who die are unstable (moderately or very sick) within the first 2 days after birth in places without neonatal intensive care.
Doctors and nurses do not know how to decide which unstable babies are stable enough to receive KMC (as opposed to being placed in an incubator for warmth). A key question is, “What system can be used to identify which unstable (sick) babies should KMC?”This study will develop a system, suitable for use in settings like Africa, to help doctors and nurses determine which babies should receive KMC in the hospital. It will use a research database called the National Neonatal Research Database (NNRD), and a statistical approach called “modelling” in which measures (such as temperature, laboratory results) will be tested to find the group of measures most closely related to death before hospital discharge.
REC name
North West - Preston Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
17/NW/0709
Date of REC Opinion
30 Nov 2017
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion