CClinicalTrials.gg
CompletedNCT00926588SCOPEUpdated Aug 7, 2015Results posted

Stepped Care to Optimize Pain Care Effectiveness

A Phase 3 interventional study of Stepped care in Pain, sponsored by US Department of Veterans Affairs. Completed at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 18 Years to 65 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2015-08-07.

Sponsored by US Department of Veterans Affairs · Phase 3, Interventional, and Treatment

Phase
Phase 3
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
250
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
18 Years to 65 Years
Sex
All
01

Study summary

Pain is the most common physical symptom in primary care, accounting for an enormous burden in terms of patient suffering, quality of life, work and social disability, and health care and societal costs. Pain is particularly prevalent among veterans. Four major barriers to optimal care include underdetection of pain, inadequate initial treatment, failure to monitor adherence and symptom response, and failure to adjust treatment in patients not responding or intolerant of initial therapy. Therefore, we propose to conduct the Stepped Care to Optimize Pain care Effectiveness (SCOPE) study, a randomized clinical effectiveness trial in primary care.

Read the detailed description

SCOPE will enroll 250 primary care veterans with persistent (3 months or longer) musculoskeletal pain of moderate severity, and randomize them to either the stepped care intervention or usual care control group. The intervention will be based upon the empirically-validated Three-Component Model which in SCOPE will involve collaboration between the primary care physician, a nurse pain care manager, and a supervising physician pain specialist. SCOPE will involve a telemedicine approach coupling automated home-based symptom monitoring with telephone-based nurse care management. The intervention will consist of optimized analgesic management using a stepped care approach to drug selection, symptom monitoring, dose adjustment, and switching or adding medications. All subjects will undergo comprehensive outcome assessment at baseline, 1, 3, 6 and 12 months by interviewers blinded to treatment group. Our principal aim is to test whether SCOPE is more effective than usual care in reducing pain as measured by the Brief Pain Inventory. Secondarily, we will test the impact on other pain outcomes (e.g., severity, self-efficacy, use of self-management strategies), emotional functioning, health-related quality of life, and treatment satisfaction.

02

Conditions studied

  • Pain

Keywords

  • Pain
  • Telecare
  • Collaborative care
03

In context

Lead sponsor

US Department of Veterans Affairs is the lead sponsor of 658 studies on the registry; none are open to participants now.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Years to 65 Years
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
No

Inclusion criteria

SCOPE will enroll 250 primary care veterans with persistent (3 months or longer) musculoskeletal pain of moderate severity and randomize them to either the stepped care intervention or usual care control group.

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

Individuals who:

  • have filed a pain-related disability claim in the last 6 months;
  • do not speak English;
  • have moderately severe cognitive impairment;
  • have schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, or other psychosis;
  • are actively suicidal;
  • have current illicit drug use; or
  • have an anticipated life expectancy of less than 12 months.
05

Study design

Phase
Phase 3
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Parallel assignment
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
250 participants (actual)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    Stepped Care

    Patients received automated pain monitoring. A nurse care manager partnering with a physician pain specialist decide on treatment changes collaborating with primary care physicians. Structured algorithms for stepped care analgesic management and explicit decision rules for adjusting treatment are used.

    Drug: Stepped care

  • No intervention
    Usual Care

    Patients receive usual care for pain from their primary care physician

Interventions

  • DrugStepped care

    Structured algorithms for stepped care analgesic management and explicit decision rules for adjusting treatment are new tools developed for this study.

    Also known as: Optimized analgesics with collaborative care management

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Brief Pain Inventory (Pain)

    The full scale name is the Brief Pain Inventory. This 11-item scale measures self-reported pain severity and interference. It consists of 4 pain severity items and 7 pain interference items. Each item is scored from 0 (no pain) to 10 (worse pain imaginable). There is a pain severity score (average of 4 pain severity items), pain interference score (average of 7 pain interference items), and total pain score (average of all 11 items). For all 3 scores, 0 represents the best score (i.e., least pain) and 10 represents the worst score (i.e., greatest pain).

    Time frame: 1 year

07

Results

Posted Dec 19, 2014

Participant flow

Participants were recruited from June 2010 through May 2012. Patients and physicians in 5 primary care clinics in the Roudebush Veterans Administration Medical Center in Indianapolis participated.

Participant flow — Overall Study
MilestoneStepped CareUsual Care
Started124126
Completed116122
Not completed84

Outcome measures

PrimaryBrief Pain Inventory (Pain)

The full scale name is the Brief Pain Inventory. This 11-item scale measures self-reported pain severity and interference. It consists of 4 pain severity items and 7 pain interference items. Each item is scored from 0 (no pain) to 10 (worse pain imaginable). There is a pain severity score (average of 4 pain severity items), pain interference score (average of 7 pain interference items), and total pain score (average of all 11 items). For all 3 scores, 0 represents the best score (i.e., least pain) and 10 represents the worst score (i.e., greatest pain).

Time frame:
1 year
Reported as:
Mean · units on a scale
Brief Pain Inventory (Pain)
units on a scaleStepped CareUsual Care
Brief Pain Inventory (Pain)3.57 ± 2.224.59 ± 2.13

Adverse events

Non-serious events are listed at a 5% frequency threshold.

Adverse event summary by group
GroupDeathsSeriousOther
Stepped Care—22/124 (17.7%)0/124 (0%)
Usual Care—8/126 (6.3%)0/126 (0%)
Most frequent serious events
Showing 10 of 21
Most frequent serious events
EventStepped CareUsual Care
Cardiac hospitalizationCardiac disorders5/1241/126
Hospitalization due to knee replacementMusculoskeletal and connective tissue disorders3/1240/126
Hospitalization due to infectionInfections and infestations2/1240/126
Hospitalization due to coronary artery bypass surgeryCardiac disorders2/1240/126
Hospitalization due to renal failureRenal and urinary disorders1/1240/126
Hospitalization due to motor vehicle accidentInjury, poisoning and procedural complications1/1240/126
Bladder repair surgery and hospitalizationRenal and urinary disorders1/1240/126
Hospitalization due to removal of fibroidsSurgical and medical procedures1/1240/126
Hospitalization due to planned hysterectomyReproductive system and breast disorders1/1240/126
Hospitalization due to appendicitisGastrointestinal disorders1/1240/126

Baseline characteristics

Age, Categorical
Age, Categorical(Participants)Stepped CareUsual CareTotal
<=18 years000
Between 18 and 65 years124126250
>=65 years000
Sex: Female, Male
Sex: Female, Male(Participants)Stepped CareUsual CareTotal
Female152843
Male10998207
Race (NIH/OMB)
Race (NIH/OMB)(Participants)Stepped CareUsual CareTotal
American Indian or Alaska Native134
Asian011
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander000
Black or African American311748
White89103192
More than one race000
Unknown or Not Reported325
Region of Enrollment
Region of Enrollment(participants)Stepped CareUsual CareTotal
United States124126250
08

Study locations

1 site
  • Richard L. Roudebush VA Medical Center, Indianapolis, IN
    Indianapolis, Indiana 46202-2884, United States
09

References and documents

Publications

  • Kroenke K, Krebs E, Wu J, Bair MJ, Damush T, Chumbler N, York T, Weitlauf S, McCalley S, Evans E, Barnd J, Yu Z. Stepped Care to Optimize Pain care Effectiveness (SCOPE) trial study design and sample characteristics. Contemp Clin Trials. 2013 Mar;34(2):270-81. doi: 10.1016/j.cct.2012.11.008. Epub 2012 Dec 8. PubMed 23228858 ↗
  • Kroenke K, Outcalt S, Krebs E, Bair MJ, Wu J, Chumbler N, Yu Z. Association between anxiety, health-related quality of life and functional impairment in primary care patients with chronic pain. Gen Hosp Psychiatry. 2013 Jul-Aug;35(4):359-65. doi: 10.1016/j.genhosppsych.2013.03.020. Epub 2013 Apr 29. PubMed 23639186 ↗
  • Chumbler NR, Kroenke K, Outcalt S, Bair MJ, Krebs E, Wu J, Yu Z. Association between sense of coherence and health-related quality of life among primary care patients with chronic musculoskeletal pain. Health Qual Life Outcomes. 2013 Dec 26;11:216. doi: 10.1186/1477-7525-11-216. PubMed 24369044 ↗
  • Kroenke K, Krebs EE, Wu J, Yu Z, Chumbler NR, Bair MJ. Telecare collaborative management of chronic pain in primary care: a randomized clinical trial. JAMA. 2014 Jul 16;312(3):240-8. doi: 10.1001/jama.2014.7689. PubMed 25027139 ↗
  • Kroenke K, Wu J, Yu Z, Bair MJ, Kean J, Stump T, Monahan PO. Patient Health Questionnaire Anxiety and Depression Scale: Initial Validation in Three Clinical Trials. Psychosom Med. 2016 Jul-Aug;78(6):716-27. doi: 10.1097/PSY.0000000000000322. PubMed 27187854 ↗
  • Outcalt SD, Kroenke K, Krebs EE, Chumbler NR, Wu J, Yu Z, Bair MJ. Chronic pain and comorbid mental health conditions: independent associations of posttraumatic stress disorder and depression with pain, disability, and quality of life. J Behav Med. 2015 Jun;38(3):535-43. doi: 10.1007/s10865-015-9628-3. Epub 2015 Mar 19. PubMed 25786741 ↗
  • Kroenke K, Yu Z, Wu J, Kean J, Monahan PO. Operating characteristics of PROMIS four-item depression and anxiety scales in primary care patients with chronic pain. Pain Med. 2014 Nov;15(11):1892-901. doi: 10.1111/pme.12537. Epub 2014 Aug 19. PubMed 25138978 ↗
10

Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Aug 7, 2015, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
11

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT00926588
Lead sponsor
US Department of Veterans Affairs
Responsible party
Sponsor
First posted
Jun 23, 2009
Start date
Oct 2009
Primary completion
Jun 2013
Completion
Jun 2015
Results posted
Dec 19, 2014
Last update
Aug 7, 2015

Study contacts

Kurt Kroenke, MD
principal investigator · Richard L. Roudebush VA Medical Center, Indianapolis, IN

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
Yes
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

Not currently enrolling

This study is completed, as verified in Jul 2015. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

Follow this study

Get an email when the registry record changes — status, dates, results — or when someone posts here.

Sign in to follow

Discussion

Questions and observations about this study, from anyone following it. Not medical advice, and not a channel to the study team — their contact details are on the registry record.

Sign in to join the discussion. Reading takes no account; posting does. You choose a display name, and a pseudonym is the default.

Nothing here yet. If you are running this trial, taking part in it, or weighing whether to, this is the place to say so.

Start the discussion