Shah 1997.

Methods	Randomized controlled trial Blinding of randomisation: Can't tell Blinding of intervention: No Complete follow up: Yes Blinding of outcome measurement: No
Participants	Healthy neonates of > =37 weeks PMA (n=27) Demographic data: Values are mean (SD) or number (%) HL group: Age (days) 3.1 (1.1) Sex (% male) 8 (57%) State (% awake before procedure) 5 (36%) Reason for test (% bilirubin) 13 (93%) VP group: Age (days) 2.8 (1.2) Sex (% male) 8 (62%) State (% awake before procedure) 7 (58%) Reason for test (% bilirubin) 12 (97%)
Interventions	VP (n=13) HL (n=14) 0.25 ml of blood was obtained with either method
Outcomes	Pain assessments were made using Neonatal Infant Pain Scale (NIPS) Parental rating of their own anxiety was assessed using a three point scale where 0= not worried at all, 1= a little worried and 2= very worried and infant's pain using a scale where 0= no pain at all, 1= a little pain and 2= a lot of pain
Notes	One investigator (well‐trained paediatrician) performed all procedures One infant in each group had the procedure performed while being breat fed One of the reviewers (V. Shah) for this systematic review is the primary author of this paper
Risk of bias
Bias	Authors' judgement	Support for judgement
Random sequence generation (selection bias)	Low risk	Computer generated
Allocation concealment (selection bias)	Unclear risk	No information provided
Blinding (performance bias and detection bias) All outcomes	High risk	Personnel knew group assignment
Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) All outcomes	Low risk	Outcomes reported for all 27 infants included
Selective reporting (reporting bias)	Unclear risk	The study was not registered in a trials registry
Other bias	High risk	The study was stopped after 27 infants had been enrolled from the preset sample of 50 infants