Lejeune Fleur, Lordier Lara, Pittet Marie P, Schoenhals Lucie, Grandjean Didier, Hüppi Petra S, Filippa Manuela, Borradori Tolsa Cristina
Child Clinical Neuropsychology Unit, Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.
Division of Development and Growth, Department of Pediatrics, Geneva University Hospitals, Geneva, Switzerland.
Front Psychol. 2019 Mar 5;10:494. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00494. eCollection 2019.
Preterm birth is associated with a higher prevalence of neurodevelopmental deficits. Indeed, preterm children are at increased risk for cognitive, behavioral, and socio-emotional difficulties. There is currently an increasing interest in introducing music intervention in neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) care. Several studies have shown short-term beneficial effects. A recent study has shown that listening to a familiar music (heard daily during the NICU stay) enhanced preterm infants' functional connectivity between auditory cortices and subcortical brain regions at term-equivalent age. However, the long-term effects of music listening in the NICUs have never been explored. The aim of this study was to evaluate at 12 and 24 months the effects of music listening in the NICU on cognitive and emotional development in preterm children by comparing them to a preterm control group with no previous music exposure and to a full-term group. Participants were 44 children (17 full-term and 27 preterm). Preterm children were randomized to either music intervention or control condition (without music). The preterm-music group regularly listened to music from 33 weeks postconceptional age until hospital discharge or term-equivalent age. At 12 months, children were evaluated on the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development, Third Edition, then with 4 episodes of the Laboratory Temperament Assessment Battery (assessing expressions of joy, anger, and fear, and sustained attention). At 24 months, the children were evaluated with the same tests, and with 3 additional episodes of the Effortful Control Battery (assessing inhibition). Results showed that the scores of preterm children, music and control, differed from those of full-term children for fear reactivity at 12 months of age and for anger reactivity at 24 months of age. Interestingly, these significant differences were less important between the preterm-music and the full-term groups than between the preterm-control and the full-term groups. The present study provides preliminary, but promising, scientific findings on the beneficial long-term effects of music listening in the NICU on neurodevelopmental outcomes in preterm children, and more specifically on emotion mechanisms at 12 and 24 months of age. Our findings bring new insights for supporting early music intervention in the NICU.
早产与神经发育缺陷的较高患病率相关。事实上，早产儿童出现认知、行为和社会情感困难的风险更高。目前，新生儿重症监护病房（NICU）护理中引入音乐干预的兴趣日益浓厚。多项研究显示了短期有益效果。最近一项研究表明，在足月等效年龄时，听熟悉的音乐（在NICU住院期间每天都能听到）可增强早产婴儿听觉皮层与皮层下脑区之间的功能连接。然而，NICU中听音乐的长期影响从未被探讨过。本研究的目的是在12个月和24个月时，通过将早产儿童与未接触过音乐的早产对照组以及足月组进行比较，评估NICU中听音乐对早产儿童认知和情感发展的影响。参与者为44名儿童（17名足月儿童和27名早产儿童）。早产儿童被随机分为音乐干预组或对照组（无音乐）。早产音乐组从孕龄33周开始定期听音乐，直至出院或达到足月等效年龄。在12个月时，使用贝利婴幼儿发展量表第三版对儿童进行评估，然后进行4次实验室气质评估量表测试（评估喜悦、愤怒和恐惧的表达以及持续注意力）。在24个月时，用相同测试对儿童进行评估，并增加3次努力控制量表测试（评估抑制能力）。结果显示，早产儿童音乐组和对照组在12个月时的恐惧反应得分以及24个月时的愤怒反应得分与足月儿童不同。有趣的是，与早产对照组和足月组之间相比，早产音乐组和足月组之间的这些显著差异不那么明显。本研究提供了初步但有前景的科学发现，即NICU中听音乐对早产儿童神经发育结局具有有益的长期影响，更具体地说，对12个月和24个月时的情绪机制有影响。我们的研究结果为支持NICU中的早期音乐干预带来了新的见解。
