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. 2019 Dec 30;45(1):171.
doi: 10.1186/s13052-019-0757-0.

Does virtual reality reduce pain in pediatric patients? A systematic review

Anna Maria Iannicelli  1 , Daniele Vito  2 , Concetta Anna Dodaro  3 , Pasquale De Matteo  4 , Rita Nocerino  2 , Angela Sepe  2 , Valeria Raia  2
Affiliations

Does virtual reality reduce pain in pediatric patients? A systematic review

Anna Maria Iannicelli et al. Ital J Pediatr. .

Abstract

Virtual Reality (VR) as a tool for pain reduction is the research topic of several clinical trial for Randomized Controlled Trials despite its wide use in the daily clinical practice for non- pharmacological reduction of pain in some countries. At present, there are no published reviews of VR-efficacy of pain reduction in pediatric patients. That is why we made a systematic review of the efficacy of VR as a tool for pain reduction in children and adolescents. Electronic databases and gray literature published between 2014 and 2019 were analyzed. A total of 9 studies were eligible according to the established inclusion criteria. Results show that virtual reality is a valid tool for non-pharmacological pain reduction and that this approach is to be preferred to the standard reduction techniques currently in use. However, more studies using standardized experimental methodologies are needed to provide more systematic comparison and quantitative synthesis.

Keywords: Children; Pain; Pediatric; Virtual reality.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
PRISMA flow diagram
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Comment in

  • Regarding Iannicelli et al.
    Chan E, Leong P. Chan E, et al. Ital J Pediatr. 2021 Mar 27;47(1):78. doi: 10.1186/s13052-021-01009-4. Ital J Pediatr. 2021. PMID: 33771207 Free PMC article. No abstract available.

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