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The reduction of needle-related pain is a long-standing goal in pediatric care. The topical anesthetic cream EMLA (eutectic mixture of lidocaine) has been found to reduce venipuncture pain in infants aged >3 months and older children, but studies of its use in infants aged <3 months have shown mixed results.
Researchers performed a systematic review of the literature and a meta-analysis of 10 randomized controlled trials including 907 preterm and term infants receiving EMLA or a comparator (placebo/no treatment, sucrose, or breast-feeding) for pain control during a venipuncture procedure. The primary effectiveness outcome was pain, measured by observational pain scale, and the primary safety outcome was methemoglobinemia.
EMLA showed no bette…