The analgesic effect of videogames: a randomized trial

BACKGROUND: Non pharmacologic analgesia in preschool children is still a scarcely explored field. We evaluated the efficacy of three non-pharmacological analgesic techniques during a venipuncture in 3-6-year-old children.METHODS: We enrolled 63 preschool children aged between 3 and 6 years, undergoing a routine venous blood sampling. We randomly assigned each child to one of three analgesic treatments: watching cartoons, watching soap bubbles, and playing a videogame. We used the FLACC scale to assess pain before and during the venipuncture.RESULTS: The use of “videogames” gives a significantly lower mean score after the venipuncture (P=0.0152) as compared to cartoons and soap bubbles. After the venipuncture, the FLACC level of pain increases significantly with “cartoons” and “soap bubbles”, while it remains unchanged when using “videogames”.CONCLUSIONS: Our results show that playing videogames can be a good option in this age range because we did not report an increase of pain score after the painful procedure, unlikely cartoons, and soap bubbles. Our study adds evidence of effectivity of this technique, that is still relatively scarcely studied. When the aim is prevention of procedural pain, playing videogames can be an allied of the baby to overcome it. Nonetheless, we discourage everyday children’s use of videogames, according to the recommendations of the major scientific societies.