title: Does intrauterine tobacco exposure increase the pain perception of newborns?
abstract: BACKGROUND
  This study aimed to assess whether there was a difference in the pain-perception levels of newborns born to mothers who smoked during pregnancy and newborns born to mothers who were not exposed to active or passive smoking during pregnancy.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 60 newborns born by normal spontaneous vaginal birth between June 2013 and June 2014 were included in the study: 30 born to mothers who smoked during pregnancy, and 30 born to mothers not exposed to smoking. Mothers or newborns who had taken analgesics or sedative medications in the previous 24 hours, newborns not born at term, and sick newborns were not included in the study. During the routine hepatitis B-vaccination injection given at postnatal 48 hours, the newborns' behavior was monitored and recorded by video camera. The data obtained from the recordings were evaluated according to the Neonatal Pain, Agitation, and Sedation Scale and analyzed with SPSS 20.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The median pain score of the group exposed to tobacco smoke in utero was 8.5, while the median pain score of the unexposed group was 6 (P<0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Exposure to tobacco smoke in utero may increase the pain-perception levels of newborns.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University, Çanakkale, Turkey.
authors.forename: Mustafa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tekin
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University, Çanakkale, Turkey.
authors.forename: Şule
authors.initials: Ş
authors.lastname: Yıldırım
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University, Çanakkale, Turkey.
authors.forename: Hakan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Aylanç
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University, Çanakkale, Turkey.
authors.forename: Nazan
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kaymaz
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University, Çanakkale, Turkey.
authors.forename: Fatih
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Battal
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University, Çanakkale, Turkey.
authors.forename: Naci
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Topaloğlu
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University, Çanakkale, Turkey.
authors.forename: Esra
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Başer
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University, Çanakkale, Turkey.
authors.forename: Fatih Köksal
authors.initials: FK
authors.lastname: Binnetoğlu
keywords: intrauterine; mother; newborn; pain perception; smoking