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Pain reactivity in preterm neonates: examining the sex differences
Author(s) -
Valeri B.O.,
Gaspardo C.M.,
Martinez F.E.,
Linhares M.B.M.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
european journal of pain
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.305
H-Index - 109
eISSN - 1532-2149
pISSN - 1090-3801
DOI - 10.1002/ejp.508
Subject(s) - medicine , heart rate , anesthesia , reactivity (psychology) , stimulus (psychology) , pediatrics , psychology , alternative medicine , pathology , blood pressure , psychotherapist
Background Early and repeated experiences of pain may have long‐term effects on vulnerable newborns hospitalized in the N eonatal I ntensive C are U nit ( NICU ), and neonatal pain responses may be affected by a variety of factors that neonates encounter. We tested the hypothesis that male preterm neonates exhibited greater pain sensitivity than females by assessing biobehavioural pain reactivity and recovery patterns to painful procedure. Methods Fifty‐three infants born preterm and low birthweight who were admitted to NICU were observed during five phases (baseline, antisepsis, puncture, recovery‐dressing and recovery‐resting). Behavioural pain reactivity was measured using the N eonatal F acial C oding S ystem ( NFCS ) and the S leep– W ake S tates S cale ( SWS ). The heart rate ( HR ) was continuously recorded. All measures were assessed based on scores and magnitude of responses. Results We found that male and female preterm neonates had similar patterns of behavioural pain reactivity and recovery; there were no statistical differences between groups in NFCS and SWS scores. However, male preterm infants presented higher HR immediately in the first minute of the puncture phase and also higher change in maximum HR between the baseline and puncture phases, than female preterm infants. Conclusion Although we found that male infants showed higher physiological reactivity to painful stimulus in some HR parameters than female infants, the evidences were not sufficient to confirm the influence of sex on biobehavioural response to pain in vulnerable neonates.