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Developing an Objective Measure of Experienced Pain

NCT05415423 · Status: COMPLETED · Phase: NA · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 330

Last updated 2022-10-12

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

Pain is a public health challenge around the world. However, there is no single standardized measure of pain, to the point that the estimated prevalence of chronic pain in adults ranges between 2% and 64% depending on the methods and definitions used. Existing measures of pain are known to present several problems and results can be hardly compared between people.

The investigators propose and empirically validate a new, simple method to measure experienced pain in clinical trials. The method provides an objective, cardinal measurement of experienced pain which is comparable between people and the investigators test whether it is better able to measure experienced pain than existing procedures. The investigators test the new method in healthy participants using standard protocols (electrical and heat stimuli). The investigators also aim to validate the measure using a causal manipulation which relies on the administration of a topical analgesic product compared to a placebo.

Conditions

  • Pain, Acute

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Developing an objective measure of experienced pain

At the beginning of each study, participants are randomly allocated into one of two groups. Within each group all participants are exposed to the same painful stimulus. One group experiences a painful stimulus of higher intensity compared to that of the other group. The painful stimuli are physically identical for every subject within the same group and within the standard of previous pain research. Participants are then asked to evaluate the painful stimulus they just received according to a self-reported scale (NRS, VAS, gLMS, NRS-MB). Participants are also asked to decide multiple times whether they prefer a larger amount of money and experience the same or more painful stimulus they received before or a smaller amount of money and no (or a less) painful stimulus. The smaller amount of money is progressively increased across choices until it matches the larger amount, similar to multiple price-list methods (MPL) which are standard in economics.

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • Balgrist University Hospital

    collaborator OTHER

  • University of Zurich

    lead OTHER

Study Design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
BASIC_SCIENCE
Masking
SINGLE
Model
PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age
18 Years
Max Age
60 Years
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2022-06-06
Primary Completion
2022-09-26
Completion
2022-09-26

Countries

  • Switzerland

Study Locations

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Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT05415423 on ClinicalTrials.gov