Medication Review Improves Pain Management and Quality of Life in Chronic Pain

NCT ID: NCT06997861

Last Updated: 2025-05-30

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

NA

Total Enrollment

20 participants

Study Classification

INTERVENTIONAL

Study Start Date

2023-11-03

Study Completion Date

2024-06-26

Brief Summary

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The goal of this parallel-group, single-blinded, randomized study is to conduct Medication Review (MR) Type III in chronic non-cancer pain patients to optimize drug therapy and measure it's influence on Pain Intensity and Quality of Life in the primary care setting. The study took place in Porto, Portugal with the collaboration of two Primary Care Units (USF Arca D'Água and USF Campanhã - Polo S. Roque da Lameira) under ACeS Porto Oriental, from where patients were recruited. The main question it aims to answer is:

* Does the implementation of pharmacist-led medication review benefit patients with chronic pain in the primary care setting?
* Researchers will compare with "Usual Care" (UC) patients which receives general advice on how to manage their pain and/or recommendations to take "over the counter" drugs, similar to community pharmacy visits, to see if there is a clinically significant difference in pain intensity and quality of life between the two groups of patients.
* Participants will be asked to attend face-to-face interviews once a month for 4 months with an expert in medication review, that evaluates their current medication and suggests an individualized care plan. These plans include measures aimed at physicians (e.g., medication adding; dose reduction) and participants (e.g., non-pharmacological measures; adherence to medication).

Detailed Description

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Conditions

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Chronic Pain

Study Design

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Allocation Method

RANDOMIZED

Intervention Model

PARALLEL

single-blinded, randomized study
Primary Study Purpose

TREATMENT

Blinding Strategy

SINGLE

Participants
This trial is blinded to subjects. Each subject will be informed they will be allocated to one of the two arms without knowing which one. Subjects will know they will receive pharmaceutical care, despite not knowing what type of pharmaceutical care they will receive.

Study Groups

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Medication Review (MR)

Group Type EXPERIMENTAL

Medication Review Type III

Intervention Type OTHER

The MR arm will receive four MR interviews. In the first MR, information about the patient's personal and medical history, along with current health problems, relevant lab exams and medication will be gathered. This will be used to proceed with medication review process and assessment of Drug Related Problems (DRP) that may lead to negative medication results. A personalized care plan will be developed to correct any detected DRP, delivered in writing/e-mail to the patient and carefully explained. Some DRP's may need the physician's intervention to correct. In these cases, a detailed recommendation will be sent to the patient's physician via email. All physicians' recommendations acted upon or not, will be recorded. Subsequent interviews will assess patient compliance with the care plan and if necessary, adjustments will be made accordingly.

Usual-Care (UC)

Group Type ACTIVE_COMPARATOR

Usual Care

Intervention Type OTHER

The UC arm will receive an intervention by the investigator at the same time frame defined for the MR arm. The intervention will also consist of interviews, although MR will not be conducted. The investigator will ask questions to the patient about is drug therapy in a similar fashion to what would happen in the community pharmacy. Simple advice and information will be carried out (i.e., reinforcement of adherence, explanation about indication of drugs etc.)

Interventions

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Medication Review Type III

The MR arm will receive four MR interviews. In the first MR, information about the patient's personal and medical history, along with current health problems, relevant lab exams and medication will be gathered. This will be used to proceed with medication review process and assessment of Drug Related Problems (DRP) that may lead to negative medication results. A personalized care plan will be developed to correct any detected DRP, delivered in writing/e-mail to the patient and carefully explained. Some DRP's may need the physician's intervention to correct. In these cases, a detailed recommendation will be sent to the patient's physician via email. All physicians' recommendations acted upon or not, will be recorded. Subsequent interviews will assess patient compliance with the care plan and if necessary, adjustments will be made accordingly.

Intervention Type OTHER

Usual Care

The UC arm will receive an intervention by the investigator at the same time frame defined for the MR arm. The intervention will also consist of interviews, although MR will not be conducted. The investigator will ask questions to the patient about is drug therapy in a similar fashion to what would happen in the community pharmacy. Simple advice and information will be carried out (i.e., reinforcement of adherence, explanation about indication of drugs etc.)

Intervention Type OTHER

Eligibility Criteria

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Inclusion Criteria

* Non-cancer chronic pain (\>3 months, any cause)
* Follow-up at one of the selected Primary Care Units
* Average weekly pain score ≥4 at the screening phase
* Ability to attend monthly in-person or video interviews

Exclusion Criteria

* Pregnancy
* Breastfeeding
* Dementia
* Other mental illness impairing self-reporting
Minimum Eligible Age

18 Years

Maximum Eligible Age

70 Years

Eligible Sex

ALL

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Sponsors

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University of Salamanca

OTHER

Sponsor Role collaborator

Polytechnic Institute of Porto

OTHER

Sponsor Role lead

Responsible Party

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Nuno Miguel da Silva Duarte

Principal Investigator

Responsibility Role PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Locations

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Centro de Investigação em Saúde e Ambiente (CISA) - School of Health of the Polytechnic Institute of Porto

Porto, , Portugal

Site Status

Countries

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Portugal

References

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McDermott ME, Smith BH, Elliott AM, Bond CM, Hannaford PC, Chambers WA. The use of medication for chronic pain in primary care, and the potential for intervention by a practice-based pharmacist. Fam Pract. 2006 Feb;23(1):46-52. doi: 10.1093/fampra/cmi068. Epub 2005 Aug 17.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 16107494 (View on PubMed)

Kadam P, Bhalerao S. Sample size calculation. Int J Ayurveda Res. 2010 Jan;1(1):55-7. doi: 10.4103/0974-7788.59946. No abstract available.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 20532100 (View on PubMed)

Domingues L, Cruz E. Adaptação Cultural e Contributo para a Validação da Escala Patient Global Impression of Change. Ifisionline. 2011;2(1):31-7

Reference Type BACKGROUND

Cleeland CS. The Brief Pain Inventory User Guide. University of Texas ; 2009

Reference Type BACKGROUND

Ferreira-Valente MA, Pais-Ribeiro JL, Jensen M. Further Validation of a Portuguese Version of the Brief Pain Inventory Interference Scale. Clin Salud. 2012;23(1):89-96

Reference Type BACKGROUND

Sabater Hernández D, Milena Castro Silva M, María Faus Dáder J. Método Dáder: manual de seguimento farmacoterapêutico. 3a. Lisboa: Edições Universitárias Lusófonas; 2009

Reference Type BACKGROUND

Wan X, Wang W, Liu J, Tong T. Estimating the sample mean and standard deviation from the sample size, median, range and/or interquartile range. BMC Med Res Methodol. 2014 Dec 19;14:135. doi: 10.1186/1471-2288-14-135.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 25524443 (View on PubMed)

Dworkin RH, Turk DC, Farrar JT, Haythornthwaite JA, Jensen MP, Katz NP, Kerns RD, Stucki G, Allen RR, Bellamy N, Carr DB, Chandler J, Cowan P, Dionne R, Galer BS, Hertz S, Jadad AR, Kramer LD, Manning DC, Martin S, McCormick CG, McDermott MP, McGrath P, Quessy S, Rappaport BA, Robbins W, Robinson JP, Rothman M, Royal MA, Simon L, Stauffer JW, Stein W, Tollett J, Wernicke J, Witter J; IMMPACT. Core outcome measures for chronic pain clinical trials: IMMPACT recommendations. Pain. 2005 Jan;113(1-2):9-19. doi: 10.1016/j.pain.2004.09.012. No abstract available.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 15621359 (View on PubMed)

International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP). International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP). Medication review and medicines use review: A toolkit for pharmacists. The Hague: International Pharmaceutical Federation; 2022.

Reference Type BACKGROUND

Griese-Mammen N, Hersberger KE, Messerli M, Leikola S, Horvat N, van Mil JWF, Kos M. PCNE definition of medication review: reaching agreement. Int J Clin Pharm. 2018 Oct;40(5):1199-1208. doi: 10.1007/s11096-018-0696-7. Epub 2018 Aug 2.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 30073611 (View on PubMed)

Hepler CD, Strand LM. Opportunities and responsibilities in pharmaceutical care. Am J Hosp Pharm. 1990 Mar;47(3):533-43.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 2316538 (View on PubMed)

Other Identifiers

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CE/2023/87

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id

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