Application of ice and vapocoolant spray to reduce tetanus vaccine pain: A prospective, randomized, controlled, clinical study

Abstract

Aim: Tetanus is one of the vaccine-preventable diseases, that threatens human health in our country and the world, and one of the most common symptoms after vaccination is localized pain. In this study, we aimed to compare the effectiveness of vapocoolant spray with ice application and control group in reducing the pain during vaccination. Material and Method: This prospective randomized controlled trial included 292 patients who received tetanus vaccination between January 1st, 2017 and April 1st, 2017 and who agreed to participate in the study. Patients were assigned to 3 groups. Before vaccination, vapocoolant spray was applied to Group 1 and ice was applied to Group 2, and application was directly performed to Group 3 (control). The pain at the time of vaccination and at injection was noted between 0-100 using Visual Analogue Scale (VAS). Results: Of the 315 patients included in the study, 292 fulfilled the inclusion criteria. Patients who were applied ice (5.3 ± 7.1) or vapocoolant spray (4.1 ± 5.4) at the time of intervention had statistically significantly lower VAS values than control group (8 ± 10.6) (p = 0.002; p <0.001, respectively). The mean VAS values during injection, in control patients and ice and vapocoolant spray applied patients were found to be as 9.5 ± 8.11; 6.3 ± 7.4; 11.5 ± 10.2, respectively. VAS values at injection were statistically significantly lower in ice-applied patients than in the control group (p = 0.039). Conclusions: Both ice and vapocoolant spray reduce pain occurred during tetanus vaccination compared to the control group. With easy and fast applicability, ice and vapocoolant spray can be used to reduce the pain during the tetanus vaccine.