Oral sucrose and non-nutritive sucking goes some way to reducing pain during retinopathy of prematurity eye examinations.

Abstract

AIM:

To evaluate the efficacy of oral sucrose combined with non-nutritive sucking for reducing pain associated with retinopathy of prematurity screening.

METHODS:

This was a randomised controlled study of 64 infants undergoing eye examination for retinopathy of prematurity screening. Topical anaesthetic (Proparacaine; Alcaine(®) drop 0.5%: ALCON CANADA Inc., Mississauga, Canada) was applied 30 sec before the eye examination in all infants. The infants in intervention group (Group 1, n = 32) received 0.5 mL/kg of 24% sucrose with a pacifier. The control group (Group 2, n = 32) received 0.5 mL/kg of sterile water with a pacifier.

RESULTS:

The groups had similar gestational ages (28.5 ± 2.8 weeks), mean birthweight (1304 ± 466 g) or corrected gestational age (35.4 ± 3.7 weeks) at examination. The intervention group had a significantly lower mean Premature Infant Pain Profile score during examination of the first eye, following insertion of the speculum (Group 1:13.7 ± 2.1 vs. Group 2:16.4 ± 1.8, p = 0.001).

CONCLUSION:

Although sucrose combined with non-nutritive sucking modestly reduces pain scores during eye examinations, there is need to further studies to explore significant pain relief for infants undergoing retinopathy of prematurity screening.

• Authors: Dilek Dilli, Nisa Eda Çullas İlarslan, Emrah Utku Kabataş, Ayşegül Zenciroğlu, Yıldız Şimşek, Nurullah Okumuş
• Journal: Acta paediatrica (Oslo, Norway : 1992) (Acta Paediatr) Vol. 103 Issue 2 Pg. e76-9 (Feb 2014) ISSN: 1651-2227 [Electronic] Norway
• PMID: 24730361 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Randomized Controlled Trial)
• Copyright: ©2013 Foundation Acta Paediatrica. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Chemical References

• Sucrose

Topics

• Humans
• Infant, Newborn
• Pacifiers
• Pain (etiology, prevention & control)
• Pain Measurement
• Retinopathy of Prematurity (diagnosis)
• Sucking Behavior
• Sucrose (therapeutic use)
• Vision Tests (adverse effects)