Effectiveness of oral sucrose on pain severity in term newborn undergoing heel prick

Pain is perceived from 28th week of gestation and has adverse effects on newborn development. Therefore, using palliative methods during noxious procedures in newborn units are necessary. The goal of this study was determine effectiveness of oral sucrose on pain severity in term newborns undergoing heel prick.

In this randomized controlled trial, 120 term newborns undergoing heel prick that was admitted in pediatric medical educational center of Gorgan were selected and randomly assigned into three groups: intervention, control and placebo. Then 2 minutes before heel prick either 2ML 25% sucrose or sterile water was instilled into mouth of infants in intervention or placebo groups by syringe, respectively. The newborns of control group didnt take anything. Heart rate and O2 saturation of all newborns from two minutes before to three minutes after heel prick were measured and recorded. In all cases, heel prick was done by an expert nurse that was blind to assignment methods. The pain related to heel prick was measured using the CRIES (Crying; Requires increased oxygen administration; Increased vital signs; Expression; Sleeplessness) scale. During process, status of newborn's faces was recorded. The films were observed by two independent assessors that were blind to goal of the study and scored base on CRIES scale. Gathered data was analyzed by ANOVA, Bonferroni and Krusskal-wallis statistic tests.

According to the results, there wasnt any significant difference in sex, age, weight, admission duration, heart rate and O2 saturation among newborns before heel prick. Whereas, after intervention, except cry duration, there was significant difference in all pain parameters such as pain severity score, heart rate and O2 saturation between intervention and control groups (P<0.05).

Based on results, we can offer oral sucrose (25%) as an analgesic agent before heel prick in term newborns