Slater 2010.

Methods	Randomized, prospective study Painful intervention: heel lance Study location: Elizabeth Garret Anderson Wing, University College Hospital, London, UK Study period: 25 February 2009 to 25 March 2010
Participants	59 infants; 29 assigned to sucrose group and 30 to water group 44 term infants 37 to 43 weeks' PMA, < 8 days old were included in the analysis of the primary outcome (pain‐specific brain activity recorded with electroencephalography and identified by principal component analysis)
Interventions	Sucrose group (n = 20): 0.5 mL 24% sucrose given via syringe Water group (n = 24): 0.5 mL sterile water
Outcomes	HR change, PIPP score, nociceptive‐specific brain activity, latency to change in facial expression(s), facial non‐responders, nociceptive reflex withdrawal activity
Notes
Risk of bias
Bias	Authors' judgement	Support for judgement
Random sequence generation (selection bias)	Low risk	Computer‐generated randomized code
Allocation concealment (selection bias)	Low risk	Only the hospital pharmacy had access to the randomization codes that could be used to identify the solution. A sealed copy of the randomization chart was also stored in the neonatal unit in case an adverse event was reported
Blinding (performance bias and detection bias) All outcomes	Low risk	Participants, personnel and outcome assessors blinded
Blinding of outcome assessment (detection bias) All outcomes	Low risk	Outcome assessors blinded
Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) All outcomes	High risk	59 infants were enrolled, but the primary outcome was ascertained in 44 infants (75%)
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