Changes in pain and concurrent pain medication use following compounded topical analgesic treatment for chronic pain: 3- and 6-month follow-up results from the prospective, observational Optimizing Patient Experience and Response to Topical Analgesics study

Abstract

BackgroundOpioids and other controlled substances prescribed for chronic pain are associated with abuse, addiction, and death, prompting national initiatives to identify safe and effective pain management strategies including topical analgesics.MethodsThis prospective, observational study evaluated changes from baseline in overall mean severity and interference scores on the Brief Pain Inventory scale and the use of concurrent pain medications at 3- and 6-month follow-up assessments in chronic pain patients treated with topical analgesics. Changes in pain severity and interference and medication usage were compared between treated patients and unmatched and matched controls.ResultsThe unmatched intervention group (unmatched-IG) included 631 patients who completed baseline and 3-month follow-up surveys (3-month unmatched-IG) and 158 who completed baseline and 6-month follow-up assessments (6-month unmatched-IG). Baseline and 3-month follow-up data were provided by 76 unmatched controls and 76 matched controls (3-month unmatched-CG and matched-CG), and 51 unmatched and 36 matched patients completed baseline and 6-month follow-up surveys (6-month unmatched-CG and matched-CG). Baseline demographic characteristics and mean pain severity and interference scores were similar between groups. There were statistically significant decreases from baseline in mean pain severity and interference scores within the 3- and 6-month unmatched-IG (all P<0.001). Significantly greater decreases in the mean change from baseline in pain severity and interference scores were evident for the 3- and 6-month unmatched-IG versus unmatched-CG (all P<0.001), with similar results when the 3- and 6-month matched-IG and matched-CG were compared. A higher percentage of the 3- and 6-month unmatched-IG and matched-IG de-escalated use of concurrent pain medications (all P<0.001), while significantly higher percentages of the unmatched-CG and matched-CG escalated medication use. Side effects were reported by <1% of the unmatched-IG.ConclusionTopical analgesics appear to be effective and safe for the treatment of chronic pain, with randomized controlled trials needed to confirm these findings.

Preliminary evidence of safety and effectiveness of Loxoprofen Sodium Cataplasm combined with physiotherapy for myofascial pain syndrome treatment: A randomized controlled pilot clinical trial

“…At the same time, this program has certain advantages over other control groups. NSAIDs topical patch is an alternative to oral medications, which has a local effect on the painful area and reduces the systemic impact ( 23 ). Even if adverse reactions such as allergic reactions occur, the allergen can be removed immediately by removing the cataplasm.…”

MEvA-X: a hybrid multiobjective evolutionary tool using an XGBoost classifier for biomarkers discovery on biomedical datasets

“…The second dataset included data from the Optimizing Patient Experience and Response to Topical Analgesics (OPERA) study. The OPERA dataset consists of 631 patients with chronic pain in the intervened group, answering the BPI-validated questionnaire along with some supplementary questions before and after a follow-up period ( Gudin et al 2017 ) for a total of 50 survey questions as features. Therefore, this is a dataset made of 631 patients each with 50 features.…”

“…The information contained in this dataset comes from the answers of the subjects in the Brief Pain Inventory (BPI) ( Cleeland and Ryan 1994 ) at the beginning (baseline) and at the follow-up period, and it is encoded in numerical scaled values. The study aimed to document changes in 3 months in four categories: BPI pain severity, pain interference relating to Quality of Life components, other medication usage, and the qualitative health complaints of these patients ( Gudin et al 2017 ).…”