Is it painful or not? Discriminant validity of the Behavioral Indicators of Infant Pain (BIIP) scale.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the ability of the Behavioral Indicators of Infant Pain (BIIP) scale to discriminate between skin-breaking and nonskin breaking procedures, and to identify sensitized pain responses in preterm infants in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).


METHODS
Sixty-nine infants born between 24 and 32 weeks gestational age were assessed at 32 weeks postconceptional age during blood collection on one day (procedure A), and then on another day during blood collection preceded by a diaper change (procedure B). Procedure order was randomized. Outcome measures were changes in BIIP coded from continuous bedside video recordings and changes in heart rate (HR).


RESULTS
During blood collection (procedure A), BIIP scores (P<0.0001) and mean HR (P<0.0001) were higher than during the diaper change and higher when the infants had had a preceding diaper change (procedure B vs. procedure A) (P<0.03). HR changed from baseline to the stressors for each procedure. No differences in mean HR were observed during Lance phase between the procedure A and the B blood collection; however, HR remained elevated significantly during the Recovery phase when blood collection was preceded by the diaper change (P<0.03).


CONCLUSIONS
The BIIP scale is reliable, accurate, and valid assessment for measuring acute pain in preterm infants in the NICU. This assessment combines the relatively most specific, anatomically based, theoretically derived indicators; and it allows evaluation of behavioral and physiologic pain responses separately.
Holsti
Liisa
L
Community Child Health Research, Child and Family Research Institute, Vancouver, Canada. lholsti@cw.bc.ca
Grunau
Ruth E
RE
Oberlander
Tim F
TF
Osiovich
Horacio
H
D001724:Birth Weight; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D041381:Diapers, Infant; D004562:Electrocardiography; D005260:Female; D005865:Gestational Age; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000187:drug effects; D006801:Humans; D018730:Infant Behavior; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007234:Infant, Premature / Q000502:physiology*; D007363:Intensive Care Units, Neonatal; D008297:Male; D010146:Pain / Q000523:psychology*; D010147:Pain Measurement / Q000295:instrumentation*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012879:Skin Physiological Phenomena