eVISualisation of Physical Activity and Pain (eVIS) for Patients With Chronic Pain

Introduction: Living with chronic pain often involves negative consequences. Interdisciplinary Pain Rehabilitation Programs (IPRPs), a subset of Interdisciplinary Treatment (IDT) includes physical activity and exercise and is considered superior to single-treatment measures in patients with chronic pain. However, effects emerge sub-optimal and as many as 30% of patients deteriorate in some outcomes. A novel intervention, eVISualisation (eVIS) of physical activity and pain, has been systematically developed to facilitate patients in reaching and maintaining recommended individualized physical activity levels. The aim is to transparently report on methodology, outcome assessments, and processes for a registry-based randomized controlled trial (R-RCT) initiated as an internal pilot study.

Methods and analysis: The R-RCT will recruit approximately 400 patients with chronic pain who are registered at primary and specialized IPRP units (n=15) in Sweden. Participants will be randomly allocated to either an IPRP + eVIS or the control group that will receive only IPRP treatment. eVIS entails objectively measured physical activity (steps) and patient-reported outcomes (pain intensity, affect on daily activities, pharmaceutical consumption) collected and visualized in the web application PATRON. Data from an initial 30 participants completing the study period (6 months) will be included in a pilot study designed to evaluate recruitment- and randomization processes, standardized effect size, sample size, characteristics of outcomes, follow-up rates of the R-RCT. Outcome variables will be extracted from PATRON and from six national registries. Multivariate statistics and repeated measures analyses will be performed. Quality Adjusted Life Years (QALYs) and Incremental Cost Effectiveness Ratio (ICER) will be calculated for cost effectiveness evaluation.

Ethics/dissemination: The Swedish Ethics Review Board granted approval (Dnr 2021/02109). Results will be disseminated through peer-review journals.