Practice of immersion in hot water to relieve pain in neonatology: an integrative review

Abstract

Objectives: to identify immersion use in hot water to relieve pain in newborns. Methods: an integrative literature review, carried out in the PubMed, VHL, EMBASE, Scopus, CINAHL, Cochrane and SciELO databases, with investigations in English, Spanish, French or Portuguese, published between 2002 and 2022. The Health Sciences Descriptors (DeCS) and Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) were used to answer the following question: what are the uses of hot water immersion in relieving pain in newborns? Results: nine studies were included, mainly Brazilian, experimental, with a predominance of strong and moderate levels of evidence. Hydrotherapy and bath use (immersion and bandaging) was observed, promising interventions in reducing pain scores, assessed using scales, physiological and endocrine parameters. Conclusions: hot water proved to be a promising non-pharmacological intervention in relieving pain in infants in different contexts.