Annalisa G V Hauck, Marianne van der Vaart, Eleri Adams, Luke Baxter, Aomesh Bhatt, Daniel Crankshaw, Amraj Dhami, Ria Evans Fry, Marina B O Freire, Caroline Hartley, Roshni C Mansfield, Simon Marchant, Vaneesha Monk, Fiona Moultrie, Mariska Peck, Shellie Robinson, Jean Yong, Ravi Poorun, Maria M Cobo, Rebeccah Slater
BACKGROUND: Touch interventions such as massage and skin-to-skin contact relieve neonatal pain. The Parental touch trial (Petal) aimed to assess whether parental stroking of their baby before a clinically required heel lance, at a speed of approximately 3 cm/s to optimally activate C-tactile nerve fibres, provides effective pain relief. METHODS: Petal is a multicentre, randomised, parallel-group interventional superiority trial conducted in the John Radcliffe Hospital (Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Oxford, UK) and the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital (Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, Exeter, UK)...
February 16, 2024: Lancet Child & Adolescent Health