Tohoku J. Exp. Med., 2011, 225(3)

Letter to the Editor

Newborn Massage and Neonatal Jaundice

ARZU DURSUN,¹ AYSEGÜL ZENCIROGLU¹ and NURULLAH OKUMUS¹

¹Department of Neonatology, Dr. Sami Ulus Child Health and Diseases & Maternity Hospital, Ankara, Turkey

Dear the Editor,
We read with great interest the article entitled “Baby Massage Ameloriates Neonatal Jaundice in Full-Term Newborn Infants” by Chen and co-workers (Chen et al. 2011). The hypothesis of simple body massage might be helpful for newborn jaundice was really interesting for us. We would like to make a few comments and to ask a few questions in order to clarify some unclear issues in their paper.
First, the authors concluded as “baby massage at an early stage after birth could reduce neonatal bilirubin levels and they suggested baby massage is beneficial for ameliorating neonatal jaundice” due to increased gastro-intestinal passage. We wonder whether the power analysis of the study was performed or not.
Secondly, 45% (18/40) of the control group underwent phototherapy, while this figure was 24% (7/29) in treatment (massage) group. Did the authors perform statistical analysis for this difference? Is the reason for this difference connected to massage by the authors?
Finally, we would like to thank to the authors for their contribution and their kind responses.

© 2011 Tohoku University Medical Press

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Tohoku J. Exp. Med., 2011, 225, 221

Correspondence: Arzu Dursun, M.D., Department of Neonatology, Dr. Sami Ulus Child Health and Diseases & Maternity Hospital, Babur Street, No: 44 (06080) Altindag, Ankara, Turkey.

e-mail: arzuson2@gmail.com