Initial validation of the Behavioral Indicators of Infant Pain (BIIP)

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Abstract
L responses to pain in infants are often dissociated, using multidimensional scales which combine these indicators into a single score may limit our ability to determine the effects of interventions on each system. Our aim was to design a unidimensional scale which would combine the relatively most specific, individual, behavioral indicators for assessing acute pain in this population. The Behavioral Indicators of Infant Pain (BIIP) combines sleep/wake states, 5 facial actions and 2 hand actions. Ninety-two infants born between 23 and 32 weeks GA were assessed during 3, 1 min Phases of blood collection. Outcome measures included changes in BIIP and in Neonatal Infant Pain Scale (NIPS) scores coded in real time from continuous bedside video recordings; changes in heart rate (HR) were obtained using custom physiological processing software. Scores on the BIIP changed significantly across Phases of blood collection (p < 0.01). Internal consistency (0.82) and inter-rater reliability (0.80–0.92) were high. Correlations between the BIIP and NIPS were modest (r = 0.64, p < 0.01) as were correlations between the BIIP and mean heart rate (r = 0.45, p < 0.01). In this initial study, the BIIP has been shown to be a reliable, valid scale for assessing acute pain in preterm infants in the NICU....