The effect of sucrose on infants during a painful procedure.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to test the efficacy of treating the pain among newborn infants associated with a medical procedure with sucrose with regard to overall physiological and behavioral stability.

Methods: 103 newborn infants were enrolled in this study. The control group (n=63) did not receive any treatment. The experimental group (n=40) received 2 mL of 24% sucrose solution two minutes before a routine heel stick. The pain was assessed by measurements of physiological changes [e.g. pulse rate, oxygen saturation, salivary cortisol (hydrocortisone)] and behavioral changes [e.g. crying time, and the neonatal infant pain scale (NIPS) for neonates].

Results: There were no differences among the groups with respect to physiological changes associated with the pain from the procedure. However, there were significant group differences in behavioral changes to the pain. In the control group, the median crying time was 13 seconds, while in the experimental group, the median crying time was 3.5 seconds (P=.000). In the control group the median NIPS score was 4, while in the experimental group the median NIPS score was 2 (P=.000).

Conclusions: These findings suggest that sucrose can be an effective method for the management of stress responses in infants with regard to behavior. However, this treatment had no significant physiological effects.