ReviewThe European journal of neuroscience2014
The consequences of pain in early life: injury-induced plasticity in developing pain pathways.
Review in The European journal of neuroscience, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 107 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
107 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 262 citations in OpenAlex.
- Long-term alterations in pain sensitivity following preterm birth: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in pediatrics · 2026Pooled it
- Sucrose analgesia for heel-lance procedures in neonates.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2023Pooled it
- Qualitative review on N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor expression in rat spinal cord during the postnatal development: Implications for central sensitization and pain.Developmental neurobiology · 2020Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Development of Cardiovascular Indices of Acute Pain Responding in Infants: A Systematic Review.Pain research & management · 2016Pooled it
- Trial
- Sucrose vs. skin to skin care for preterm neonatal pain control-a randomized control trial.Journal of perinatology : official journal of the California Perinatal Association · 2018Trial
- High-resolution metabolic profiling of the effects of early-life stress after peripheral nerve injury.The journal of pain · 2026Article
- Implementation and Evaluation of a Pediatric Pain Assessment Educational Program (PPAEP) for Nurses in a Resource-Limited Setting: A Pilot Study.Paediatric & neonatal pain · 2026Article
- The maturation of spinal dorsal horn nociceptive neuronal network activity over the postnatal period.Pain reports · 2025Article
- Early life adversity increases risk for chronic post-traumatic pain, data from humans and rodents.Pain · 2025Article
- Sex differences in the transition to chronic pain.The Journal of clinical investigation · 2025Review
- Nurses' knowledge and attitudes regarding children's pain assessment and management in Nepal.Journal of child health care : for professionals working with children in the hospital and community · 2025Article
- Development and Validation of the Decisions to use Opioids Measure.Pain management nursing : official journal of the American Society of Pain Management Nurses · 2025Article
- Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) in Specific Vulnerable Developmental Periods Can Increase the Likelihood of Chronic Pain in Adulthood-Results from a Cross-Sectional Study.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Latent bladder hypersensitivity induced by neonatal cystitis in rats unmasked by segmental but not hetero-segmental inflammation.Neuroscience letters · 2025Article
- Early-life pain alters excitability of corticotropin-releasing factor-expressing neurons in the central amygdala and stress-induced hypersensitivity during adolescence.Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience · 2025Article
- Neonatal paw pricking alters adolescent behavior in a sex-dependent manner and sucrose partially remediates the effects.Physiology & behavior · 2024Article
- Early-life cisplatin exposure induces neuroinflammation and chemotherapy-induced neuropathic pain.Disease models & mechanisms · 2024Article
- Brain health in preterm infants: importance of early-life pain and analgesia exposure.Pediatric research · 2024Review
47 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Pain in infancy influences pain reactivity in later life, but how and why this occurs is poorly understood. Here we review the evidence for developmental plasticity of nociceptive pathways in animal models and discuss the peripheral and central mechanisms that underlie this plasticity. Adults who have experienced neonatal injury display increased pain and injury-induced hyperalgesia in the affected region but mild injury can also induce widespread baseline hyposensitivity across the rest of the body surface, suggesting the involvement of several underlying mechanisms, depending upon the type of early life experience. Peripheral nerve sprouting and dorsal horn central sensitization, disinhibition and neuroimmune priming are discussed in relation to the increased pain and hyperalgesia, while altered descending pain control systems driven, in part, by changes in the stress/HPA axis are discussed in relation to the widespread hypoalgesia. Finally, it is proposed that the endocannabinoid system deserves further attention in the search for mechanisms underlying injury-induced changes in pain processing in infants and children.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.