• Alejandro Avila-Alvarez, Sonia Pertega-Diaz, Lorena Vazquez Gomez, Andrea Sucasas Alonso, Henar Romero Rey, Dolores Eiriz Barbeito, and Montserrat Cabana Vazquez.
• Department of Neonatology, Complexo Hospitalario Universitario de A Coruña, A Coruña, Spain.
• Acta Paediatr. 2020 May 1; 109 (5): 935-942.

AimTo assess changes in skin conductance during retinopathy of prematurity screening and to study the correlation between the skin conductance and a validated pain scale.MethodsProspective observational study. Fifty-three eye examinations were performed in 32 preterm infant candidates for retinopathy of prematurity screening. Outcome measures were changes in Premature Infant Pain Profile-Revised (PIPP-R) scale and number of skin conductance fluctuations.ResultsThere was a significant increase from baseline in the number of skin conductance fluctuations and PIPP-R during the procedure. The maximum value of number of skin conductance fluctuations was 0.64 ± 0.44 peaks/sec, and the maximum value of PIPP-R was 10.8 ± 3.3. A correlation between the skin conductance and PIPP-R was not found at any time during the eye examination. Repeated measures correlation analyses showed only a moderate positive correlation between PIPP-R and number of skin conductance fluctuation values.ConclusionThere were significant changes in both PIPP-R and number of skin conductance fluctuations during retinopathy of prematurity screening, reaffirming that this procedure is painful and stressful. The number of skin conductance fluctuations and PIPP-R are not significantly correlated, which likely reflects that these parameters evaluate different but complementary aspects of neonatal pain responses.© 2019 Foundation Acta Paediatrica. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

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