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Effect of whole body massage on pain scores of neonates during venous puncture and comparison with oral dextrose and Kangaroo care, a randomized controlled evaluator-blind clinical study

Journal of Perinatology volume 43, pages 590–594 (2023)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Objective

Newborns in NICUs experience many painful procedures. The aim of the study was to evaluate the effect of whole body massage therapy on pain scores during venipuncture and to compare with oral 10% dextrose and Kangaroo care.

Study design

Newborns with gestational age ≥34 weeks were randomly enrolled to one of three groups: dextrose, massage and Kangaroo care and a blinded investigator scored the pain using NIPS before and during the procedure.

Results

There were 25, 26 and 23 newborns in dextrose, massage and Kangaroo care groups, respectively. Pain scores were similar before and during venipuncture in groups (p > 0.05). 36.5% of newborns (27/74) had severe pain scores. Number of newborns with no pain (score 0–2), moderate pain (score 3–4) and severe pain (score 5–7) were similar in each group.

Conclusion

Massage, Kangaroo and oral 10% dextrose had similar effects on pain scores during venipuncture.

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Data availability

The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request. All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article.

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Funding

The principal investigator HYY declare on behalf of all authors that authors have no financial interest.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pediatrics, Division of Neonatology, Çukurova University, Faculty of Medicine, Adana, Turkey

    Hacer Yapicioglu Yildizdas & Ferda Ozlu

  2. Department of Pediatrics, Newborn Intensive Care Unit, Çukurova University, Faculty of Medicine, Adana, Turkey

    Buket Erdem & Duygu Yildiz Karahan

  3. Department of Biostatistics, Çukurova University, Faculty of Medicine, Adana, Turkey

    Yaşar Sertdemir

Authors
  1. Hacer Yapicioglu Yildizdas
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  2. Buket Erdem
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  3. Duygu Yildiz Karahan
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  4. Ferda Ozlu
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  5. Yaşar Sertdemir
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Contributions

HYY; Conception, design, supervision, writing, literature review. YS; Analysis and Interpretation. BE, DYK and OF; Supervision, materials, data collection.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ferda Ozlu.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Written informed consent was obtained from the parents of newborns included in the study.

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Yildizdas, H.Y., Erdem, B., Karahan, D.Y. et al. Effect of whole body massage on pain scores of neonates during venous puncture and comparison with oral dextrose and Kangaroo care, a randomized controlled evaluator-blind clinical study. J Perinatol 43, 590–594 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41372-022-01570-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41372-022-01570-8

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