Using vibrating and cold device for pain relieves in children: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

Objective: Needle procedures are the most common source of pain, anxiety, and fear among children. A combination of a cooling ice-pack and/or a vibrating motor for pain management in children has been evaluated in trials, but their overall effects await a synthesis of the available evidence. Method: Comprehensive search was conducted using Cochrane, PubMed, EMBASE, PsycINFO, CINAHL and Airiti. We calculated pooled risk ratios (RR), mean difference (MD) and 95% CI using RevMan 5.3. A meta-regression was conducted to investigate the effects of mean age on MD of pain. Results: A total of 1479 children from 16 publications were included. Compared with the control group, using cold-vibrating device significantly decreased pain level above the age of 2 (MD -3.03, 95% CI: −3.38, −2.68), as well as lower anxiety level among parents (MD -1.3, 95% CI: −1.9, −0.7). Meta-regression demonstrated a significant negative correlation of pain score with age. For children at 8.5 years, cold-vibration reduced the pain score by 0.13 averagely for every increment in year compared with controls (MD −0.13; 95% CI: −0.25, −0.01). No adverse events were reported in included studies. Discussion: The cold-vibrating device reduced pain levels significantly among children without adverse effects. Variation of factors might contribute to the heterogeneity of our study, such as age, different needle procedures, psychological strategies…etc. Conclusions: Cool-vibration treatment reduced pain levels in children who underwent needle procedures and the treatment appears more effective in older children. The device is promising in clinical setting due to its non-invasiveness and ease of usage.