Role of sucrose, pacifier and their combination as pain reliever among preterm neonates during painful procedures

Abstract

Background/Objective: The role of sucrose and/or non-nutritive sucking (NNS) has been evaluated for relieving procedural pain in newborn infants with satisfactory results however there was a controversy regarding the synergestic effect of their combination.}

Methods: This quasi-experimental study was conducted in the neonatal intensive care unit in Assiut University Children Hospital including 120 preterm neonates who were divided into 4 groups (20 neonates each). Control group received routine hospital care; sucrose group received oral sucrose solution (OS); pacifier group received pacifier; and last group received oral sucrose solution and pacifier during painful procedures. All were assessed regarding socio-demographic and clinical data in addition to application of Premature Infant Pain Profile (PIPP) scale to assess the levels of pain and mean pain scores pre and post-intervention.

Results: The 4 groups were similar regarding soci-demographic and clinical data. The application of the OS and/or pacifier, led to significant improvement of the levels of pain and reduction of the mean score of pain among preterm neonates during painful procedures. In addition, combined pacifier and OS was superior to OS alone and comparable to pacifier alone regarding their effect on the reduction of pain level and mean score of pain.

Conclusions: OS and pacifier are effective as pain reliever during painful procedures among preterm neonates. Combined OS and pacifier is superior to OS and pacifier alone.