Neonatal Sucrose and Internalizing Behaviors at 18 Months in Children Born Very Preterm.

ABSTRACT:

Importance

In the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), neonates born very preterm (<33 weeks' gestation) are exposed to great numbers of painful procedures, which is associated with more internalizing (anxiety and depressive) behaviors later in childhood. Oral sucrose is commonly used in NICUs to treat acute procedural pain and is effective in reducing behavioral responses, but the long-term associations between oral sucrose and child behaviors have not yet been examined.

Objective

To examine associations between cumulative neonatal pain and sucrose exposure in early life (prior to approximately 32 weeks postmenstrual age), in relation to child behaviors (internalizing and externalizing) at 18 months corrected age (CA) in children born very preterm and to examine whether the

SUBMITTER: McLean MA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11986768 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature