title: Update on pain assessment in sick neonates and infants.
abstract: This article describes developments in pain assessment in critically ill neonates and infants during the last 5 to 6 years. Pain assessment instruments show a redundancy of items and a lack of profound psychometric background. Although most research focuses primarily on acute pain, in clinical practice there is also the challenge of assessing prolonged and/or persisting pain. The effectiveness of pain assessment is still a matter of debate and has recently been challenged as a primary end point in analgesia-related trials. Integration of observation of behavior with reliable and specific neurobiology-based parameters remains a challenge.
authors.affiliation: Intensive Care, Department of Pediatric Surgery, Erasmus MC-Sophia Children's Hospital, Room Sk 1276, Dr Molewaterplein 60, 3015 GJ, Rotterdam, The Netherlands. m.vandijk.3@erasmusmc.nl
authors.forename: Monique
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: van Dijk
authors.forename: Dick
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Tibboel
mesh_terms: D016638:Critical Illness; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D010146:Pain / Q000175:diagnosis*; D010147:Pain Measurement / Q000379:methods*; D011594:Psychometrics; D012720:Severity of Illness Index