Glotzbach S F, Rowlett E A, Edgar D M, Moffat R J, Ariagno R L
Department of Pediatrics, Stanford University School of Medicine, CA 94305-5119.
Med Hypotheses. 1993 Sep;41(3):217-24. doi: 10.1016/0306-9877(93)90234-h.
The role that nursery light variability may play in modulating infant biological rhythms is being studied in Stanford Medical Center's Neonatal Intensive Care (NICU) and Intermediate Care (IN) Nurseries. In this investigation, spatial and temporal variability in illuminance was determined at 20 sites within each nursery over a 5-day period. The analysis of 240 measurements at 30 min intervals from each site revealed marked variability in illumination with respect to both time and position in the nursery. These aperiodic lighting patterns differed greatly from the published characterization of NICUs as having 'constant' illumination. Light pulses of variable frequency, intensity, and duration were common at each of the 40 bedsites studied. Given the powerful impact of light on circadian rhythmicity and sleep in adults, the results from this study suggest that modern NICU lighting, while implemented to facilitate intensive care, may have adverse effects on infant development. Future studies on the influence of light on biological rhythmicity and sleep are essential to provide a framework for clinical and environmental interventions, which may play a significant role in improving developmental outcome in hospitalized preterm or term infants.
斯坦福医学中心的新生儿重症监护室（NICU）和中级护理（IN）托儿所正在研究保育室光线变化在调节婴儿生物节律中可能发挥的作用。在这项调查中，在为期5天的时间里，确定了每个托儿所内20个地点的光照度的空间和时间变化。对每个地点每隔30分钟进行一次的240次测量分析显示，托儿所内的光照在时间和位置方面都存在显著变化。这些非周期性的光照模式与已发表的将NICU描述为具有“恒定”光照的特征大不相同。在所研究的40个床位中的每一个床位，频率、强度和持续时间可变的光脉冲都很常见。鉴于光线对成年人昼夜节律和睡眠有强大影响，这项研究的结果表明，现代NICU照明虽然是为了便于重症监护而实施的，但可能对婴儿发育产生不利影响。未来关于光线对生物节律和睡眠影响的研究对于提供临床和环境干预框架至关重要，这些干预可能在改善住院早产儿或足月儿的发育结果方面发挥重要作用。
