Observational studyPaediatric anaesthesia2025
Mucositis Pain and Its Temporal Relationship to White Cell Count.
Observational study in Paediatric anaesthesia, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundChildren who have received chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy treatment resulting in neutropenia can suffer painful mucositis. We explored the relationship between pain score and white cell count in children with mucositis due to immunosuppression and assessed the influence of opioid and ketamine analgesia.
methodsChildren with mucositis nursed in the pediatric oncology and hematology ward were invited to partake in this observational study following referral to the pediatric pain service for intravenous analgesia. Pain scores, white cell count, neutrophil count, and analgesia requirements were recorded daily until intravenous analgesia was either stopped or transitioned to oral analgesia. Data were analyzed using nonlinear mixed effects models that sought a relationship between white cell count and pain score using a sigmoid maximal effect (E
resultsFifty children were enrolled in the study from January 2022 to December 2023. The equilibration half-time relating the rise in white cell count and pain response was 0.29 days. The initial pain score (estimated in those children already started on treatment with paracetamol and tramadol) was 6.3 (maximum pain 10). The maximum pain reduction was 59% of that initial pain score. Morphine and ketamine further reduced pain; the maximum response for opioids was 38% reduction and that for ketamine was 11%.
conclusionPain relief from mucositis is related to an increase in white cell count after a period of severe neutropenia, where white cell count is a surrogate for neutrophil count. There is a delay in analgesic response of approximately 1 day. This analgesic response to increasing white cell count had greater dominance than analgesia achieved using either opioids or ketamine.
Indexed as
Identifiers
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.