Bliss is delighted to announce that the first award from its new research fund has been granted to a pioneering project that aims to understand pain in premature babies. We have spent a significant period of time over the last two years developing and consulting on our new research funding strategy, which identified three core priority areas for Bliss’ future research funding. These are:

1. The most effective ways of judging whether a premature or sick baby is feeling pain

2. The impact of developmental care support on neurodevelopmental outcomes

3. Emotional and other practical support to improve attachment and bonding of premature or sick babies and their families.

We were assisted at every step in this process by our independent research advisory panel, which was made up of half professional members and half public members, and co-chaired by Dr Narendra Aladangady (professional member and consultant neonatologist at Homerton Hospital), and Ben Wills-Eve (public member).

Following a thorough two-stage application and review process overseen by the research advisory panel and with 20 applications received at the first stage, we have awarded the Paediatric Neuro-imaging Research Team from the Department of Paediatrics at the University of Oxford a £145,987 grant, spread over three years, to fund a project that seeks to improve the measurement and treatment of pain in premature babies.

About the research project

As recently as 30 years ago, it was thought that a premature baby’s nervous system may not be developed enough to process pain. While it is now widely accepted that premature babies do feel pain, essential medical procedures such as intubation, injections and blood tests are still often performed without adequate pain relief. The average baby in neonatal care has around 10 medical procedures every day and those born extremely prematurely can have up to 50 procedures.

Pain in early life can have long-term conse-quences such as reduced growth, altered brain development¹ and reduced school-age academic performance.² Seeing their child in pain can also be incredibly stressful and upsetting for parents.

The research team at Oxford, led by Professor of Paediatric Neuroscience Rebeccah Slater, is seeking to improve both how best to accurately measure pain in premature babies and the way that pain is treated. The project aims to measure the effects of essential but painful procedures on breathing, heart rate, oxygen saturation, facial expression and brain activity in order to identify the best age-appropriate ways to assess and treat pain in premature babies. The researchers will also seek to find out whether a parent’s touch during a procedure can reduce pain in infants.

Rebeccah says: “I am thrilled to be working with Bliss on this exciting research project. The Bliss research funding provides a tremendous opportunity to improve the measurement and treatment of pain in premature infants.

“This ambitious project brings together neuroscientists, neonatal clinicians, parent representatives and data analysis experts to tackle some of the most pressing questions in neonatal care. Working directly with the doctors, nurses and parents on the neonatal unit gives us great insight into the challenge of providing effective and safe pain relief for prematurely-born infants.”

In order to measure pain effectively, a specially designed electroencephalogram (EEG – a method of measuring the electrical activity of the brain) is used. The EEG will be placed on the infants while they have short medical procedures that are essential for clinical care but are also painful. These procedures include heel lances (to take blood samples), retinopathy of prematurity screening (eye tests), cannulation and injections.

The researchers also plan to investigate whether parental touch can help alleviate pain during these procedures by examining what changes occur in brain activity of the infants. Dr Vaneesha Monk, Clinical Research Director, explains: “Parental involvement is absolutely key for our research. By working with parents we can make sure that our research is run in a family-friendly way and that our research explores areas that parents feel are important for their baby’s care and wellbeing.”

By researching and finding a reliable and accurate measure of pain in premature infants the team will be able to enhance clinical care and refine procedures to minimise pain in babies. With an accurate way to measure pain, new interventions – including medical and parental touch – will ensure that both short- and long-term improvements can be made to babies’ lives.

Next steps

The research project will take place over a three-year period, ending in late 2021. Infants born between 24 and 37 weeks’ gestation will be recruited for the study from the neonatal unit at John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford. Parents have been and will continue to be consulted throughout the course of the research project in order to alleviate any fears and to ensure they understand the scope of the project and what the results could mean for babies in future.

We are absolutely delighted that our first funding grant is going towards this pioneering research project. Many people do not realise just how many medical procedures a premature baby goes through during their hospital stay, and just how new the area of pain measurement and reduction is in neonatal research.

Anything that can be done to reduce a baby’s experience of pain and ensure the best possible long-term outcomes is a huge step in the right direction to ensuring that babies born prematurely receive the best possible standard of care. We are proud to support the vital work of the research team at the University of Oxford and look forward to continuing to build our partnership.