• Hatice Adiguzel, Mehmet Egilmez, Nevin Ergun, Yusuf Unal Sarikabadayi, and Bulent Elbasan.
• Faculty of Health Sciences, Department of Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation, Kahramanmaras Sutcu Imam University, Kahramanmaras, Turkey. fzthatis@gmail.com.
• Ir J Med Sci. 2023 Jun 1; 192 (3): 100110071001-1007.

BackgroundNewborns show a series of behavioral and physiological reactions to painful stimuli.AimsThe current study aimed to determine the effect of different procedures on the pain levels of newborns in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU).MethodsOne hundred ninety-six newborns with gestational age (GA) of 23-40 weeks, birth weight (BW) between 2235 ± 911 g were included. Painful procedure (PP) (vascular access (VA), heel prick (HP), umbilical catheter (UC), orogastric catheter (OC), and intubation (I)) were recorded. Pain during the PP was evaluated with Neonatal Infant Pain Scale (NIPS). Pulse and O2 saturation were recorded before (BP), during (DP) and after (AP) procedure.ResultsNIPS total scores were found to be significantly higher with term infants (p < 0.05). When NIPS total scores were compared according to the type of PP, significant difference was observed between groups (p = 0.000). Positive correlation was found between birth week (p = 0.000, r = 0.364), BW of infants and NIPS total score (p = 0.000, r = 0.371), pulse values of DP and NIPS total score (p = 0.000, r = 0.386). Negative correlation was found between O2 saturation values DP and the NIPS total scores (p = 0.000, r = -0.405).ConclusionsIt is concluded that as GA and BW increase, so do the pain responses of the infant, which showed that the pain thresholds of term-preterm infants are different, and decrease as GA and BW increase.© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Royal Academy of Medicine in Ireland.

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