Treatment of Patients With Longstanding Unexplained Health Complaints

NCT ID: NCT00132197

Last Updated: 2011-11-16

Study Results

Results pending

The study team has not published outcome measurements, participant flow, or safety data for this trial yet. Check back later for updates.

Basic Information

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Recruitment Status

COMPLETED

Clinical Phase

PHASE2/PHASE3

Total Enrollment

120 participants

Study Classification

INTERVENTIONAL

Study Start Date

2005-04-30

Study Completion Date

2008-09-30

Brief Summary

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The purpose of this study is to determine the effect of specialized treatment (including cognitive therapy, social counselling and a recommendation letter to the patients' primary care physician) on the functional level, emotional problems, and use of health care in patients with chronic medically unexplained symptoms.

Detailed Description

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Medically unexplained or functional somatic symptoms are complaints, which are not attributable to any verifiable, conventionally defined disease, or which cannot adequately be supported by clinical or para-clinical findings.

Functional somatic symptoms are common in the population and in all clinical settings, both in primary and secondary care. The disorders range from mild, transitory cases, which are difficult to delimit in relation to normality, to severe chronic cases with multiple symptoms from different organ systems.

Chronic multiple functional somatic symptoms often cause frustration for both GPs and patients due to lack of availability of specialized treatment offers. Patients may have a high use of health care, and their social and functional level is low. In Denmark, patients with chronic multiple functional somatic symptoms account for at least 10% of the early retirement pensions each year.

Diverse interventions have been effective in the management and treatment of patients with functional disorders. Care recommendation letters for the GPs have both helped reduce the patients' use of health care and improved their level of physical functioning. Randomized controlled trials (RCT) have shown that cognitive behavioral treatment (CBT) has effect on specific patient groups with functional disorders. Through a combination of cognitive behavioral therapy, social counselling and recommendation letters, it is possible to offer patients with chronic functional somatic symptoms a presumably effective and cost-effective treatment.

Conditions

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Somatization Disorder

Study Design

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Allocation Method

RANDOMIZED

Intervention Model

PARALLEL

Primary Study Purpose

TREATMENT

Blinding Strategy

NONE

Interventions

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Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

1\. Specialised treatment includes cognitive groups therapy in 9 modules of 3,5 hours within 3½ months, in all 31,5 hours, consultancy over the phone to the patients' GPs and tuition in groups headed by an experienced social worker. Detailed treatment manuals are worked out separately for each module. Experienced psychotherapists (clinical psychologists and psychiatrists), who also function as consultants, will do the treatment. The Ph.D.-student functions as co-therapist.

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Recommendation of care (letter to general practitioner [GP])

After the diagnostic assessment the patient does not receive any treatment offers at the research clinic, but the patient and the GP will be informed about the diagnosis, and the GP will receive advice on further treatment possibilities.

Intervention Type PROCEDURE

Eligibility Criteria

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Inclusion Criteria

* Multiple somatic symptoms from several organ systems, without adequate medical explanation.
* Moderate to severe influence on daily life.
* The disorder's functional component can easily be separated from a possible well-defined chronic somatic illness.
* No lifetime-diagnosis of psychoses, bipolar affective disorder or depression with psychotic symptoms (International Classification of Diseases \[ICD-10\]: F20-29, F30-31, F32.3, F33.3)
* The condition must have been present for at least 2 years.
* Patients of Scandinavian origin who understand, read, write and speak Danish.

Exclusion Criteria

* No informed consent.
* An acute psychiatric disorder that demands other treatment, or if the patient is suicidal.
* Abuse of narcotics or alcohol and (non-prescribed) medicine.
* Pregnancy.
* Current industrial injury case or other action for damages.
Minimum Eligible Age

20 Years

Maximum Eligible Age

45 Years

Eligible Sex

ALL

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Sponsors

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Aarhus County, Denmark

OTHER

Sponsor Role collaborator

Aarhus University Hospital

OTHER

Sponsor Role collaborator

University of Aarhus

OTHER

Sponsor Role lead

Responsible Party

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Responsibility Role SPONSOR

Principal Investigators

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Per Fink, Dr.Med.Sc.

Role: STUDY_DIRECTOR

The Research Clinic for Functional Disorders, Aarhus University Hospital

Locations

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Per Fink

Aarhus C, , Denmark

Site Status

Countries

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Denmark

References

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Schroder A, Rehfeld E, Ornbol E, Sharpe M, Licht RW, Fink P. Cognitive-behavioural group treatment for a range of functional somatic syndromes: randomised trial. Br J Psychiatry. 2012 Jun;200(6):499-507. doi: 10.1192/bjp.bp.111.098681. Epub 2012 Apr 26.

Reference Type DERIVED
PMID: 22539780 (View on PubMed)

Related Links

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Other Identifiers

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20052

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id