Pediatric massage therapy in infants and children under 5 years: An umbrella review of systematic reviews

Objective: To systematically evaluate and synthesize quantitative evidence regarding the effects of pediatric massage in infants and children under five years.

Review methods: We conducted searches in databases including MEDLINE, Embase, Health Technology Assessment Database, the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects, Allied and Complementary Medicine, Embase, the China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wanfang Data, SinoMed, and CQVIP up to February 2024. Two reviewers independently screened articles, extracted data, and conducted quality appraisals on the included studies. We focused on systematic reviews with meta-analyses comparing pediatric tuina with a waitlist control, placebo, medication, massage combined with other interventions, and usual care. Outcomes analyzed included physical, psychological, developmental, and safety-related measures for children and their caregivers. Methodological quality was assessed using AMSTAR 2, and evidence quality was evaluated using the GRADE approach. Pooled effect estimates and heterogeneity were extracted for each meta-analyzed outcome. Evidence evaluated as ‘high’ and ‘moderate’ quality by GRADEpro with low heterogeneity are presented in the result section.

Results: Twenty-two systematic reviews with meta-analysis of 81 outcomes were included. Seven studies (31.8 %) were high quality, and the evidence of 6 (7.4 %) outcomes were evaluated as high quality. The meta-analysis results demonstrate significant benefits of pediatric massage for infants compared to routine care, with increased weight gain (MD 455.07 g; 95 % CI 86.33 to 823.8; I² = 0 %) based on 2 studies with 157 cases, length growth (MD 1.58 cm; 95 % CI 1.42 to 1.74; I² = 25 %) from 9 studies with 1294 cases, reduced fussing (MD -0.37 time; 95 % CI -0.53 to -0.21; I² = 30 %) according to 3 studies with 271 cases, and lower post-intervention bilirubin levels (3 studies/345 cases; MD -31.75 mmol/L; 95 % CI -40.05 to -23.46; I² = 0 %). Pediatric massage was associated with reduced diarrhea incidence compared to waitlist controls (2 RCTs/310 cases; RR 0.39; 95 % CI 0.2 to 0.76; I² = 0 %) and improved psychomotor development indices (4 RCTs/466 cases; SMD -0.35; 95 % CI -0.54 to -0.15; I² = 1.06 %). Additionally, pediatric massage significantly enhanced blood oxygen saturation variation post-procedure for pain management (5 RCTs/355 cases; MD 1.05; 95 % CI 0.51 to 1.58; I² = 0 %).

Conclusions: Pediatric massage significantly enhances mother-child attachment, promotes physical growth, reduces fussing, lowers bilirubin levels, improves motor and psychomotor development, as well as manages digestive conditions and pain in children under 5 years. Future research should improve study quality and comprehensively report adverse events.