ArticleBMJ open2025
Efficacy of virtual reality in reducing pain, anxiety and fear in hospitalised children: a systematic review and meta-analysis protocol.
Article in BMJ open, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
What it found
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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
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- Reimagining paediatric care: technology, trust, and the global movement for child-centred innovation.Frontiers in medicine · 2026Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
introductionPaediatric hospitalisation, encompassing the period from admission to discharge, often involves feelings of pain, fear and anxiety, primarily due to clinical diagnoses and, more significantly, discomfort and stress-inducing procedures. Numerous methodologies and interventions have been investigated and implemented to alleviate these phenomena during paediatric hospitalisation. Virtual reality (VR), for example, has demonstrated efficacy in pain relief for hospitalised children in recent studies. This systematic review, therefore, aims to identify and evaluate the effectiveness of VR in alleviating pain, fear and anxiety in hospitalised children undergoing painful procedures. METHOD AND ANALYSIS: This systematic review and meta-analysis will follow the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses for Protocols guidelines. A systematic search will be conducted in March and April 2025 across the following databases, with no restrictions on language or publication year: PubMed, Embase, Scopus, Web of Science, Cumulated Index in Nursing and Allied Health Literature, ClinicalTrials.gov and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials. Eligible studies will include randomised and quasi-randomised clinical trials involving children (aged 2-10 years) and adolescents (aged 10-18 years) who received VR interventions during painful procedures. Data will be managed and analysed using Review Manager software (RevMan 5.2.3). In cases of significant heterogeneity (I² > 50%), a random-effects model will be employed to combine studies and calculate the OR with a 95% CI. The methodological quality of the included studies will be assessed using the Cochrane Risk of Bias 2.0 tool, and the certainty of the evidence will be evaluated using the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluations framework. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: This study will solely review published data; thus, ethical approval is not required. This systematic review is expected to provide subsidies, evidence and insights into the use of VR. It is also anticipated that the results will directly impact the improvement of care for these patients and the qualification of professional care. PROSPERO REGISTRATION NUMBER: CRD42024568297.
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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.