Early human development
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Early human development · Jun 2009
The behavioral pain response to heelstick in preterm neonates studied longitudinally: description, development, determinants, and components.
Preterm infants often experience multiple painful procedures during their stay in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs). The objectives of this study were to evaluate behavioral responses to heelstick in preterm newborns, characterize developmental changes and the effects of other demographic and clinical variables on the pain response, and estimate the contributions of individual Neonatal Infant Pain Scale (NIPS) behaviors to the summary pain score. ⋯ While behavioral responses to pain are attenuated in young, severely ill preterm newborns, they can be reliably detected. The most robust pain behaviors are crying, changes in arousal state, and facial grimacing.