Oral sucrose for pain management in the paediatric emergency department; a review

Abstract

Provision of effective analgesia for infants and children is important during painful procedures performed in emergency departments. Although small volumes of sweet-tasting solutions have been extensively shown to be analgesic during minor painful procedures in newborn infants, there have been fewer studies of sucrose use in infants beyond the neonatal period, and in children. This review of sucrose effectiveness in infants beyond the neonatal period highlights that sucrose continues to provide some analgesia, resulting in procedural pain reduction, however the effects may be less marked. There is inadequate evidence to support the use of sucrose during painful procedures in school-aged chil..