The Effect of Kangaroo Care on Physiologic Responses to Pain of an Intramuscular Injection in Neonates

Objective: Pain in neonates can be associated with various risks. So, it seems essential to find asimple and acceptable method for relieving pain. Pharmacologic agents are not recommended inneonates for pain relief in minor procedures but nonpharmacologic interventions like Kangaroo Care(KC) is found to be effective. The objective of this study was to assess the efficacy of KC onphysiologic responses to the pain of an intramuscular injection of vitamin K in term neonates.Material Methods: One hundred healthy term neonates were enrolled for this study during 2months. The inclusion criteria were gestational age 37-42 weeks, normal vaginal delivery, birthweight 2500-4000 gr, age more than 2 hours and Apgar score more than 7 at 1 minute. They wererandomly assigned to intervention and control groups. In the intervention group, the neonate was heldin KC for 10 minutes before the injection until 3 minutes after injection. In the control group, theneonate was in the prone position in the isolette. The primary outcome measures were heart rate andblood oxygen saturation rate before, during and 3 minutes after injection.Findings: The heart rate during and 3 minutes after injection for neonates given KC weresignificantly lower than for neonates in control group (P 0.001). The blood oxygen saturation rateduring and 3 minutes after injection for neonates given KC were significantly higher than forneonates in control group (P 0.001).Conclusion: KC given before injection seems to effectively decrease pain from injection. It is asimple, safe and effective analgesic and should be considered for minor invasive procedures in termneonates.