NCT02373189

Bright Light Treatment At Home To Manage Chronic Pain In U.S. Veterans

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 37 (actual)
• Sponsor: Rush University Medical Center · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years – 70 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

Nearly 50% of U.S. veterans report they experience pain on a regular basis. This chronic pain often co-occurs with other disorders including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, anxiety and insomnia. A common approach to treating chronic pain is opioid analgesics, which are not always effective, and increasingly associated with abuse and misuse. Thus, there is an urgent need to develop readily available, safe, and practical complementary nonpharmacological approaches to manage chronic pain in U.S. veterans. Chronic pain is a multidimensional phenomenon, inter-related with many factors, including negative mood and poor sleep. The central circadian clock, in the suprachiasmatic nucleus in the hypothalamus, is well recognized to regulate both mood and sleep, and even small delays (shifts later) in circadian/sleep timing are associated with depression and disrupted sleep. These results suggests that later circadian/sleep timing may be a modifiable risk factor for pain. Thus, a self-administered morning bright light treatment at home may be a potentially efficacious adjunctive strategy for managing chronic pain. This R34 grant will develop a morning bright light treatment to help manage chronic pain and improve PTSD symptoms, depression, anxiety and sleep in U.S. veterans. Patients will have 7 baseline days at home, followed by a baseline pain sensitivity assessment and home circadian phase assessment (dim light melatonin onset). Following an instructional home visit, patients will then self-administer morning bright light treatment for 6 days, followed by reassessments of pain sensitivity and circadian phase. Assessments will be repeated after another 7 days of morning bright light treatment. Pain, mood and sleep (wrist actigraphy) will be assessed daily throughout baseline and treatment. Pain, mood and sleep will also be rated by veterans daily during a 1 month follow up after cessation of light treatment. This study will determine the feasibility, acceptability and efficacy of bright light treatment in a sample of U.S. veterans experiencing chronic low back pain.

Detailed description

Almost 50% of U.S. veterans report they experience pain on a regular basis. This chronic pain often co-occurs with other disorders including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, anxiety and insomnia. A common approach to treating chronic pain is opioid analgesics, which are not always effective, and increasingly associated with abuse and misuse. Thus, there is an urgent need to develop readily available, safe, and practical complementary nonpharmacological approaches to manage chronic pain in U.S. veterans. Chronic pain is a multidimensional phenomenon, inter-related with many factors, including negative mood and poor sleep. The central circadian clock, in the suprachiasmatic nucleus in the hypothalamus, is well recognized to regulate both mood and sleep, and even small delays (shifts later) in circadian/sleep timing are associated with depression and disrupted sleep. These results suggests that later circadian/sleep timing may be a modifiable risk factor for pain. Thus, a self-administered morning bright light treatment at home may be a potentially efficacious adjunctive strategy for managing chronic pain. This R34 grant will develop a morning bright light treatment to help manage chronic pain and improve PTSD symptoms, depression, anxiety and sleep in U.S. veterans. Patients will have 7 baseline days at home, followed by a baseline pain sensitivity assessment and home circadian phase assessment (dim light melatonin onset). Following an instructional home visit, patients will then self-administer morning bright light treatment for 6 days, followed by reassessments of pain sensitivity and circadian phase. Assessments will be repeated after another 7 days of morning bright light treatment. Pain, mood and sleep (wrist actigraphy) will be assessed daily throughout baseline and treatment. Pain, mood and sleep will also be rated by veterans daily during a 1 month follow up after cessation of light treatment. This study will determine the feasibility, acceptability and efficacy of bright light treatment in a sample of U.S. veterans experiencing chronic low back pain.

Conditions

• Chronic Low Back Pain

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
DEVICE	Bright light	The purpose of this R34 Pilot and Feasibility study is to develop a morning bright light treatment to help manage chronic pain and improve PTSD symptoms, mood, and sleep in US veterans. Veterans will have 7 baseline days at home, followed by a baseline pain sensitivity assessment and baseline home circadian phase assessment (dim light melatonin onset). Following an instructional home visit, patients will then self-administer morning bright light treatment for 6 days, followed by reassessments of pain sensitivity and home circadian phase. This will be repeated after a further 7 days of morning bright light treatment. The Patient Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) will also be administered at every lab visit. Additionally, pain and mood (electronic diaries) and sleep (wrist actigraphy) will be assessed daily throughout baseline and treatment. Pain, mood and sleep will also be self-reported daily during a 1 month follow up after cessation of light treatment.

Timeline

• Start date: 2014-08-01
• Primary completion: 2017-09-01
• Completion: 2018-02-01
• First posted: 2015-02-26
• Last updated: 2023-12-19
• Results posted: 2023-12-19

Locations

1 site across 1 country: United States