Sucrose Analgesia for the Reduction of Pain During Retinopathy of Prematurity Screening
Sucrose Analgesia for the Reduction of Pain During Retinopathy of Prematurity Screening
Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP) screening is one of many potentially painful diagnostic and
 therapeutic procedures performed routinely on preterm infants in the Neonatal Intensive Care
 Unit. Therefore strategies for stress reduction and pain management are essential to promote
 growth and development and minimize long-term sequelae. Procedural analgesia should include
 concepts of developmental care, non nutritive suck (NNS), pharmacological and
 non-pharmacological agents. Sucrose is thought to stimulate the body's activation of lingual
 sweet taste receptors and release of endogenous opioids, when combined with NNS, non-opioid
 mechanisms are also activated. The administration of sucrose or the combination of sucrose
 and non-nutritive sucking is one of the most frequently studied non-pharmacological
 interventions for relief of pain in neonates and oral sucrose has been shown to be an
 effective and safe therapy for common neonatal procedures such as heal lance, blood-letting
 and venepuncture. There is conflicting evidence on the benefit of sucrose in ROP screening.
 Therefore the purpose of this study is to determine the efficacy of sucrose combined with NNS
 as a potential regime for reduction of pain associated with retinopathy of prematurity
 screening.
Inclusion Criteria:

 -  < 1500 grams

 -  < 32 weeks

 Exclusion Criteria:

 -  Requiring mechanical ventilation excluding Continuous Positive Pressure Ventilation
 (CPAP), sedation

 -  Infants where consent to participate was not obtained