Automatic needle insertion diminishes pain during growth hormone injection

Area of Science:

• Pediatric Endocrinology
• Pain Management
• Medical Device Technology

Background:

• Non-compliance in children receiving growth hormone (GH) treatment is a significant challenge.
• Pain and administration difficulties during injections are primary reasons for non-compliance.
• Automatic needle insertion technology is proposed to mitigate injection-related pain.

Purpose of the Study:

• To quantitatively assess and compare pain intensity during subcutaneous (sc) GH injections using manual versus automatic needle insertion devices.
• To evaluate the impact of automatic needle insertion on patient preference and potential improvement in treatment compliance.

Main Methods:

• A comparative study involving 18 children undergoing GH treatment.
• Pain intensity was measured using a combined visual analogue/facial scale and a five-item scale.
• Two prototype GH administration pens were used: one with manual sc needle insertion and one with automatic sc needle insertion.

Main Results:

• The automatic pen resulted in significantly lower maximum pain scores (median 28.5 mm) compared to the manual pen (median 52.0 mm).
• Mean pain scores were also significantly lower with the automatic pen (mean 13.7 mm) versus the manual pen (mean 23.5 mm).
• The five-item scale confirmed automatic needle insertion was less painful, with 13 out of 18 patients preferring the automatic pen for continued treatment.

Conclusions:

• Automatic needle insertion technology can significantly diminish pain associated with GH injections in children.
• This reduction in pain has the potential to improve patient compliance with long-term growth hormone therapy.
• The findings support the adoption of automatic needle insertion devices to enhance the pediatric GH treatment experience.