The effectiveness of neonatal early supported transfer to home interventions for parents and preterm infants in neonatal intensive care units: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Background: Preterm infants often need admission to a neonatal unit causing prolonged stress for parents. Evidence has shown that neonatal early supported transfer to home interventions may reduce stress levels. This systematic review investigates effectiveness of neonatal early supported transfer to home interventions for parents and preterm infants in neonatal intensive care units. Methods: Six databases and two trials registries were searched from inception to February 2022. Risk of bias was assessed using the RoB2 and ROBINS I tool. Results: Ten studies were included. Neonatal early supported transfer to home interventions reduced duration of hospital stay by up to 11 days compared to usual care, without significantly increasing hospital re-admission rates (p= >0.05). Studies were judged to have moderate to serious risk of bias. Conclusions: The findings indicate that early supported transfer to home interventions may reduce hospital stay with no evidence of difference in hospital admission rates, infants weight gain or breastfeeding rates (compared to standard care). However, due to the dearth of high-quality evidence it is not possible to make recommendations for implementation.