Does sucrose analgesia promote physiologic stability in preterm neonates?

A double-blind, randomized controlled trial was conducted with infants born <31 weeks of gestational age and recruited within 48 h of life. The infants were randomized to receive up to three doses of 0.1 ml of either 24% sucrose or sterile water ( placebo) for every painful procedure during the 1st week of life. The purpose of this study was to test the efficacy of treating all procedural pain with sucrose on overall physiological stability. The hypotheses were that infants who received 24% sucrose for all painful procedures would be less stressed as measured by salivary cortisol, and more physiologically stable as measured by pulse rate variability than those who received placebo. Salivary cortisol was measured before and 30 min after a painful procedure, whereas the pulse rate was continuously recorded, from second to second, from a pulse oximeter. There were no group differences in the cortisol response to a painful stimulus or in pulse rate variability over time. There was, however, a significant correlation between standard deviation of pulse rate and number of doses of sucrose only in the group who received high doses of sucrose. Copyright (C) 2004 S. Karger AG, Basel.