Evaluation of pain in vaginal and caesarean section birth newborns before and after intramuscular injection

Abstract

ABSTRACT BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: It is already known that the painful experiences to which the newborn is subjected may be related to future reactions and differences in the behavioral response to pain in newborns from different birth routes. This study aimed to evaluate the response to pain in infants born by cesarean section and vaginal delivery routes. METHODS: This is a prospective cohort study. Newborns born at full term were allocated into two groups: cesarean section and vaginal delivery. The intramuscular vitamin K injection was performed as an acute pain stimulus because it is a routine injection at birth. The newborns were evaluated for pain on two scales, a one-dimensional, the Neonatal Facial Coding System, and a multidimensional, the COMFORT Behavior Scale (Comfort b), in addition to heart rate counting, moments before, immediately after and 10 minutes after the stimuli. Students t-test was used for statistical analyzes, and the level of significance was 5%. RESULTS: Eighty-three children were evaluated. The pain intensity assessed by both scales before the pain stimulus was higher in the cesarean section group, but not statistically significant. Heart rate values after the stimulus showed a statistically significant difference (p<0.05), higher in the cesarean section group than in the vaginal delivery. CONCLUSION: The results did not suggest that there are differences in the perception of pain among newborns born vaginally and cesarean section.