Impact of skin-to-skin contact on acute procedural pain in newborns: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

To systematically evaluate the effectiveness of Skin-to-Skin Contact (SSC) in reducing procedural pain in neonates, compared to standard care and other non-pharmacological interventions.

Data sources

A comprehensive search was conducted in major electronic databases and gray literature up to July 2025. The review followed PRISMA and MECIR guidelines and included randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that used validated neonatal pain scales. Risk of bias was assessed using RoB 2.0, and the certainty of evidence was rated using the GRADE approach.

Summary of findings

Twenty-nine RCTs involving 2995 neonates were included. SSC significantly reduced procedural pain compared to standard care (SMD = -1.13; 95 % CI: -1.54 to -0.72; p < 0.00001), although heterogeneit

SUBMITTER: Teles LA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12744622 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Nov-Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature