RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Effects of high dose orally administered paracetamol for heel prick pain in premature infants
JF Saudi Medical Journal
JO Saudi Med J
FD Prince Sultan Military Medical City
SP 1450
OP 1453
VO 30
IS 11
A1 Zohreh Badiee
A1 Niloofar Torcan
YR 2009
UL http://smj.org.sa/content/30/11/1450.abstract
AB OBJECTIVE: To evaluate whether high dose paracetamol (40mg/kg orally) relieves pain in premature infants.METHODS: This study was a randomized controlled trial analyzing the effect of high dose oral paracetamol on pain response due to heel prick in 72 premature infants treated in the neonatal intensive care unit of Alzahra University Hospital, Isfahan, Iran during the period of April 2007 to August 2007. Ninety minutes before the heel prick, neonates received paracetamol orally in a dose of 40 mg/kg (Group 1) or an equal volume of placebo (Group 2). We assessed the pain using the premature infant pain profile (PIPP) score.RESULTS: Infants in the paracetamol and placebo groups had similar gestational ages (mean±SD: 31.7 ± 1.7 versus 32.6±1.5) and birth weights (mean±SD: 1530±292 versus 1739±369). The mean±SD PIPP scores in Group 1 was 11.1±3.8 and in Group 2 was 9.7±4.2, (p=0.15).CONCLUSION: Single high dose paracetamol does not appear to provide adequate analgesia for the acute pain caused by heel prick in premature neonates.