Sugar water may not relieve infants’ pain

Rebeccah Slater of the University of Oxford led a study that measured pain-specific brain activity and reflexes in the spinal cord after newborns had their heels pricked for a blood test. The research team also noted facial expressions in babies who were randomly assigned to get a sugar solution or just sterile water before the blood sample was taken.

Sugar is commonly used as a way to ease pain in babies because they appear to react less to pain when they taste something sweet. Facial expressions are traditionally used to help gauge pain, but Slater’s group sought more objective evidence of pain reduction by using encephalograms for brain activity and electromyograms for reflexes.

Seven of 20 babies who had the sugar water showed no change in their facial expression after the heel prick, while all 24 babies who had plain water did wince. But there was no difference between the two groups in brain or reflex activity.

BOTTOM LINE: Newborn babies who were given sugar water just before having their heels pricked for a blood sample were less likely to grimace than babies who got plain water, but there was no difference in brain or spinal cord activity related to pain.

CAUTIONS: The study was small and it measured only a limited set of brain activity.

WHERE TO FIND IT: The Lancet, Sept. 1

Older schizophrenics say religion helps them

Dr. Carl Cohen and his colleagues from SUNY Downstate Medical Center studied almost 200 people over 55 who had been diagnosed with schizophrenia and were living in the community. They were compared with a little more than 100 older adults without mental illness. All of the participants were asked how frequently they attended religious services, how important religion was in their lives, and whether it helped them cope with life’s difficulties.

People with schizophrenia took part in religious services far less frequently than others, perhaps because of social issues unrelated to religion. But they were just as likely to say religion was important in their lives. Religion wasn’t significantly associated with psychotic symptoms, even though some people who heard voices said it was God or, in one case, the devil who was speaking to them.

“Health professionals have been found to be much less religious than their patients, and often they are not aware of their patients’ religious involvement,’’ the authors said. “Clinicians may overlook a therapeutically important agent.’’

BOTTOM LINE: Older people with schizophrenia who said they were religious did not attend services as frequently as other older people, but they were just as likely to say religion is important in their lives and to rely on religion to cope with problems.

CAUTIONS: The study was a snapshot of people at one point in time, so it can’t say religion led to improved well-being.

WHERE TO FIND IT: Psychiatric Services, September