Effect of gentle human touch and oral sucrose on distress relief in preterm neonates: A randomized crossover controlled trial

Abstract

PurposeThis study was conducted with the aim of comparing gentle human touch and oral sucrose on the distress caused by the placement of a oral-gastric tube in preterm infants admitted to the NICU. MethodsThis prospective randomized crossover controlled trial was performed between June to December 2023 in Tehran, Iran. ResultsThe results showed that, at the baseline, there was not statistically significant difference between the mean distress score of participations in the control condition, gentle human touch condition and the sucrose condition (P = 0.139) but after the intervention, the mean distress score in the gentle human touch was significantly lower than the control and sucrose conditions (P < 0.001) and there was not statistically significant difference between the control and sucrose conditions (P = 0.651). ConclusionThe findings of this study showed that gentle human touch is more effective and more sustained than oral sucrose in reducing the distress of preterm infants. Trial registrationThis study is registered in Iranian Registry of Clinical Trials (https://en.irct.ir/) with IRCTID: 20230202057303N1 on 2023-04-06.