Sensory Effects of Oral Opioid Treatment in Patients With Chronic Low Back Pain
Status:
Recruiting
Trial end date:
2021-09-30
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
Chronic low back pain (CLBP) afflicts up to 50 million U.S. adults and is a primary cause of
disability and reduced quality of life. The prescription of opioids for chronic low back pain
(CLBP) has increased substantially within the past decade in the U.S. As noted by the CDC in
their recent Guideline (released in March 2016): "Opioids are commonly prescribed for pain.
An estimated 20% of patients presenting to physician offices with noncancer pain symptoms or
pain-related diagnoses (including acute and chronic pain) receive an opioid prescription.
Interestingly, patients scoring very high on measures of psychological distress tend to be
systematically excluded from RCTs, even though this subgroup of patients is highly prevalent
within the chronic pain population.
This study will provide key information on individual differences in the outcomes of opioid
treatment, and its findings should facilitate more effective tailoring of analgesic regimens
to individual patient characteristic.