Effectiveness of Vapocoolant Spray on Venipuncture Pain in Young Male Donors: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Abstract

The aim of this single-blinded, randomized controlled study was to determine the effectiveness of vapocoolant spray in reducing pain related to venipuncture in young, healthy male blood donors. The participants were separated into 2 groups by randomization. The donors in the control group (n = 44) were not given any intervention during the blood collection process. Vapocoolant spray was applied to the donors in the vapocoolant spray group (n = 44). The pain score was 1.90 ± 1.47 for the vapocoolant spray group and 3.23 ± 2.21 for the control group, and the difference between the groups was found to be statistically significant (P = .02). The study result showed that the use of vapocoolant spray for pain management is an effective method of reducing pain related to venipuncture during the process of blood donation in young male donors.

Efficacy and safety of vapocoolant spray for vascular puncture in children and adults: A systematic review and meta-analysis

“…3 studies were published before 2000 (in 1990 [ 32 ] 1995 [ 33 ] and 1999 [ 34 ], 7 studies were published between 2001–2010 [ 35 – 41 ], and the remaining 15 studies were published in 2011 and 2022 [ 31 , 42 – 55 ]. 11 of the included studies originated from USA [ 31 , 34 – 36 , 40 , 43 – 45 , 47 , 49 , 51 ], 3 each from UK [ 32 , 33 , 39 ] and Iran [ 46 , 48 , 55 ], 2 each from Australia [ 37 , 41 ] and Turkey [ 42 , 53 ], and one each from Thailand [ 54 ], Germany [ 50 ], India [ 52 ] and Canadia [ 38 ]. The participants of study in 19 were adults [ 31 – 34 , 37 , 39 – 42 , 44 , 45 , 47 – 54 ], 6 [ 35 , 36 , 38 , 43 , 46 , 55 ] were children.…”

“…The intervention of all the studies was venipuncture and intravenous cannulation, except for 3 were arterial puncture [ 39 , 48 , 52 ]. Regarding the type of vapocoolant in the experimental groups, ethyl chloride was implemented in 12 studies [ 31 – 37 , 39 , 42 , 44 , 52 , 54 ], fluorohydrocarbon was conducted in 7 studies [ 38 , 40 , 43 , 45 , 47 , 49 , 51 ], 2 studies were alkane mixture [ 41 , 48 ] and 4 were not described [ 46 , 50 , 53 , 55 ]. 25 studies compared vapocoolant to non-anaesthesia, either directly no-treatment [ 32 – 34 , 37 , 39 , 46 , 53 , 55 ] or amongst other arms including placebos [ 31 , 34 , 38 , 41 , 42 , 44 , 45 , 47 – 49 , 51 , 54 ], ice pack [ 43 , 52 ] and isopropyl alcohol [ 35 , 36 , 50 ].…”

“…12 studies revealed the content of the blinding of the participants and personnel [ 31 , 34 , 36 , 38 , 41 , 44 , 45 , 47 – 51 ], and 5 studies mentioned that the blind was not available to patients and personnel [ 40 , 42 , 46 , 52 , 55 ]. 13 studies have described for assessment by evaluators who were unaware of the intervention [ 36 , 38 , 41 , 43 – 45 , 47 – 49 , 51 – 53 , 55 ] and only 2 studies reported the blindness of the assessor [ 40 , 46 ]. 6 studies had an unclear risk of incomplete outcome data [ 32 – 34 , 41 – 43 , 46 ] and the rest of studies mentioned the reasons and the number of exclusion participants.…”

“…6 studies had an unclear risk of incomplete outcome data [ 32 – 34 , 41 – 43 , 46 ] and the rest of studies mentioned the reasons and the number of exclusion participants. 13 studies have measured all the predefined outcomes [ 31 , 38 , 39 , 41 , 44 , 45 , 47 – 53 , 55 ].…”

“…Pain scores after intravenous cannulation . There are 19 [ 31 – 34 , 36 – 46 , 50 , 53 – 55 ] studies which measured post-venipuncture pain score using continuous variables, but only 17 [ 31 – 34 , 36 , 38 , 40 – 46 , 50 , 53 – 55 ] studies included in meta-Analysis. Two studies [ 37 , 39 ] offered a 95% confidence interval in the VAS-score of the outcome measures and we cannot extract available data.…”