Table 3.

Studies on the relevance of paracetamol on pain during heel lancing in neonates (60–63).

Reference	Study design, heel lancing	Paracetamol dosing	Results
Shah et al. (60)	RCT, 75 full-term cases. Facial action pain scores and cry score.	Oral paracetamol, 20 mg/kg or placebo, once 1–1.5 h before prick	Similar facial action pain scores between both groups. Neither any difference in cry score
Bonetto et al. (61)	RCT, 76 full-term cases. Pain scores (NIPS, neonatal infant pain score >4)	Placebo, glucose (25%) EMLA or oral paracetamol (20 mg/kg, 60 min)	NIPS <4 similar between placebo, paracetamol, or EMLA (47, 42, and 63%). Oral dextrose most effective (84% NIPS <4, NNT 2.7)
Badiee et al. (62)	RCT, 72 preterm (mean 32 weeks) cases. PIPP (premature infant pain profile) score	High dose, oral paracetamol (40 mg/kg), once 1.5 h 90 before heel lancing	PIPP scores placebo were similar between placebo and paracetamol (9.7, SD 4.2 vs. 11.1, SD 3.8)
Foronda et al. (63)	Randomized, single-blinded study in 129 cases, NIPS, and PIPP score, paracetamol (42) to glucose (47) or placebo (40)	No data on the paracetamol dose provided	PIPP and NIPS score were lower, and crying time shorter in the glucose group No effect of paracetamol

RCT, randomized controlled trial; ELMA, eutectic mixture of local anesthetics; NNT, number needed to treat; SD, standard deviation; NIPS, neonatal infant pain score; PIPP, premature infant pain profile.