Skin care in neonates and infants - a scoping review

Background Skin care is a basic, daily activity performed by formal and informal caregivers from birth until end of life. Skin care activities are influenced by different factors as e.g., culture, knowledge, industrial developments and marketing activities. Therefore, various preferences, traditions and behaviours exist worldwide including skin care of neonates and infants. Objective of this scoping review was to obtain an overview about the evidence of skin care activities in neonates and infants. Studies from 2010 were eligible if the population were (skin) healthy neonates and infants, if the concept were skin care interventions and if the context was at home, in a community setting, in a paediatric outpatient service or in a hospital. We searched for literature via OVID in Medline and Embase, in the Cochrane Library, in trial registries and for grey literature. Summary We identified 42 studies since 2010, which examined four main skin care interventions: bathing, wiping, washing, and topical application of leave-on products. Details of interventions were often not reported and if they were, they were not comparable. The four skin care interventions focused on 13 different care goals, mainly prevention of skin diseases, maintaining skin barrier function and improving (skin) health. We evaluated effects of skin care interventions using 57 different outcome domains; 39 of 57 were skin related and 18 were not. Mostly, laboratory or instrumental measurements were used. Key...
Source: Skin Pharmacology and Physiology - Category: Dermatology Source Type: research