The Effect of Vanilla Odor on Response to Venipuncture Pain in Preterm Newborns: a Randomized Control Clinical Trial

Background: Studies have shown that use of olfactory stimuli during painful medical procedures reduces infants’ response to pain. Aim: The main purpose of this study was investigating the effect of vanilla on pain response in preterm infants during and after venipuncture. Methods: This study is a randomized clinical trial. Ninety preterm infants, who were randomly selected and divided into two groups of control and vanilla odor, were classified into 45 people. Infants in the vanilla group were exposed to vanilla odor from 5 minutes before and up to 30 seconds after sampling, and infants of control group were exposed to smell of distilled water. The pain score was measured using premature infant pain profile (PIPP) score 30 seconds prior, during and 30 seconds after sampling. Statistical analyses were done using SPSS 16 software. Analyses were done by t-test, chi-square and repeated measure analyses. Results: Despite the differences between the pain scores of two groups during and after sampling, statistical analyses showed no significant differences between them (p=0.36). Conclusion: Results of the present study showed that use of vanilla odor has no significant effect on premature infants’ pain during blood sampling.