Blass 1999.

Methods	RCT Painful intervention: heel lance Study location: Boston Medical Center, Boston, MA, USA Study period: not stated.
Participants	40 term newborn infants, 34 h to 55 h old
Interventions	All interventions given for 2 min prior to heel lance: 2 mL 12% sucrose over 2 min via syringe (n = 10) 2 mL water via syringe over 2 min (n = 10) Pacifier dipped every 30 s in 12% sucrose solution for 2 min (n = 10) Pacifier dipped in water every 30 s for 2 min (n = 10)
Outcomes	Percentage of time spent crying during 3 min after heel lance, percentage of time spent grimacing, change in mean HR
Notes	Data were reported in graph forms only Results of ANOVA reported as P values only (we have contacted the authors to request additional information, but have received none) Adverse effects were not evaluated
Risk of bias
Bias	Authors' judgement	Support for judgement
Random sequence generation (selection bias)	Unclear risk	Sequence generation not described
Allocation concealment (selection bias)	Unclear risk	Allocation concealment not described
Blinding (performance bias and detection bias) All outcomes	Low risk	Sucrose and water alone groups blinded; pacifier + water, and pacifier + sucrose groups were blinded (although assessors could see pacifiers, they did not know which solution was being tested)
Blinding of outcome assessment (detection bias) All outcomes	Low risk	Sucrose and water alone groups blinded; pacifier + water, and pacifier + sucrose groups were blinded (although assessors could see pacifiers, they did not know which solution was being tested)
Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) All outcomes	Low risk	Results reported for all randomized infants
Selective reporting (reporting bias)	Unclear risk	The study protocol was not available to us so we could not judge whether there were any deviations from it
Other bias	Low risk	Appears free of other bias