| Study | Reason for exclusion |
|---|---|
| Abad 2001 | Intervention: oral sucrose vs lidocaine‐prilocaine cream. |
| Acharya 1998 | Median age at inclusion into the study: 3 to 65 days. |
| Ahmed 2009 | Intervention: EMLA vs control in infants undergoing circumcision. |
| Arendts 2008 | Aged 12 months to 12 years. |
| Ballantyne 2003 | Age at time of enrolment into study: 2 to 85 days. |
| Benini 1993 | EMLA vs placebo in infants undergoing circumcision. |
| Biran 2011 | Comparison groups: sucrose and EMLA vs sucrose and placebo cream. |
| Brisman 1998 | Age at enrolment: 1 to 74 days. |
| Choy 1999 | Age of participants 1 to 14 years. |
| Clarke 1986 | Age of participants 1 to 14 years. |
| Essink‐Tebbes 1999 | Non‐randomised controlled trial. |
| Gourrier 1995 | Non‐randomised controlled trial. |
| Jain 2000b | The cutaneous withdrawal reflex was elicited in response to stimulation of the dorsum of the neonate's foot using nylon filaments rather than a needle‐related pain procedure. |
| Joyce 2001 | Intervention: music and EMLA in infants undergoing circumcision. |
| Kucukoglu 2015 | Focus on instrumental touching on infant pain perception. No placebo used. Age at enrolment unclear. |
| Kurien 1985 | Median age 24 to 30 months. |
| Lemyre 2007 | Majority of infants given sucrose in addition to the intervention and placebo. |
| Lindh 2000 | Randomised controlled trial comparing EMLA and placebo. Only outcome measure reported in this study is heart rate variability. |
| Marcatto 2011 | Intervention EMLA vs glucose. |
| McIntosh 1994 | Non‐randomised controlled trial. |
| Moore 2001 | Postnatal age not reported. |
| Nahum 2007 | Age of infants 1 to 60 days. |
| Newbury 2009 | Aged 3 months to 15 years. |
| Nilsson 1990 | Non‐randomised controlled trial. |
| Robieux 1991 | Aged 3 to 36 months. |
| Taddio 1995 | No control group. Randomisation based on site of EMLA application (right or left heel). |
| Taddio 2006 | Interventions: tetracaine vs intravenous morphine vs tetracaine and intravenous morphine vs no treatment (control group not randomised). |
| van Kan 1997 | Aged 1 to 15 years. |
| Weatherstone 1993 | Intervention: 30% lidocaine vs placebo in infants undergoing circumcision. |
EMLA: eutectic mixture of local anaesthetics.