The long-term effects of the Kangaroo Mother Care intervention on cognitive functioning: Results from a longitudinal study

This study aimed to evaluate the long-term effects of the Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC) intervention on the intellectual and attentional functioning of young adults born with low birth weight. Three hundred infants were randomly assigned at birth in one of two interventions, KMC or traditional care (TC), and completed cognitive tests at adulthood (19–21 years after recruitment). The main results show that participants with a neurological vulnerability at 6 months had higher IQ and sustained attention scores at adulthood if they had received KMC than if they had received TC.