preemie-l Premies and pain
DDerleth@aol.com
Thu, 13 Jun 1996 11:22:02 -0400
I have been following the discussion of pain and its possible effects on
premies as they grow older with great interest. There is not much
information in the medical journals about it. Helen mentioned the Vancouver
NICU's recent look at the problem.
There is another bit of information about newborn pain and subsequent
perception of pain (Pediatric Research 5/95 (part 2), volume 37, abstract
#1426). A group in Toronto showed that baby boys who had been circumcised
had a greater response to the pain of immunizations at 4 and 6 months of age
than the boys who were not circumcised. So, it seems, even a single painful
event, in term babies, can affect their response to pain months later.
I understand there is more literature about the issue of pain in the newborn
period and later outcomes than I presently know about. I will have to do
some digging and see what I can find. I heard Dr. Anand talk about pain
issues in babies at a conference recently. His research will be a good place
for me to start.
I have learned a lot from your descriptions of your children and their
experiences, and I thank you all for that. I have begun to ask questions
about these issues when I see former premies at the office. After doing some
more reading on the topic, perhaps I can hatch a research idea. As some of
you, with whom I have corresponded individually, know, I have been wondering
about a link between prematurity and some of the symptoms of autism (language
delay, inability to filter incoming sensory information, not wanting to be
held, insistence on a consistent routine more than is usually seen). Perhaps
there is an explanation for the similar symtoms waiting to be uncovered.
Doug