Pain in newborns: A literature review

Abstract

Pain is defined as an unpleasant sensitive and emotional experience due to an actual or potential tissue injury. In newborns, this interpretation of pain is subjective because of the immaturity of the systems in the neonatal period, which determines a decrease in the ability to control and express pain. Additionally, newborns have the ability to develop different responses to pain that can generate long-term adverse effects, if pain is treated insufficiently, causing an increase in morbidity and mortality, alterations in behavior and neurological development. Therefore, different scales have been developed that assess pain in this population based on its physiological, autonomic and behavioral characteristics. The objective of this article is to show the information described in the literature about the pathophysiology, pain assessment scales and the available management recommendations on pain in newborns.