The medical management of chronic (long-term) or acute (short-term) pain is an important priority for VA, as some 77% of Veterans report pain control as among their top three priorities in primary care.* Important issues being studied include whether computer-aided screening will increase pain diagnosis, and what techniques will best support Veterans in self-managing their pain.
* Mitchinson AR, Kerr EA, Krein SL. "Management of chronic noncancer pain by VA primary care providers: when is pain control a priority?' Am J Manag Care. 2008 Feb;14(2):77-84.
Search results were generated based on the search term "Pain". Results are updated weekly, as new data are available.
Carey EP, Nolan C, Kerns RD, Ho PM, Frank JW. Association Between Facility-Level Utilization of Non-pharmacologic Chronic Pain Treatment and Subsequent Initiation of Long-Term Opioid Therapy. Journal of general internal medicine. 2018 May 1; 33(Suppl 1):38-45.
(5 of more than 67 PAIN focused publication briefs)
Opioids Do Not Result in Better Pain-Related Function or Pain Intensity Compared to Non-Opioid Drugs in Veterans with Chronic Pain This randomized trial compared opioid therapy versus non-opioid medication therapy over 12 months for primary care patients with chronic back pain or hip or knee osteoarthritis pain. Findings showed that the use of opioid therapy compared with non-opioid medication therapy did not result in significantly better pain-related function over 12 months. Opioid therapy compared with non-opioid medicatio...
Date: March 6, 2018
Racial/Ethnic and Gender Variations in Veteran Satisfaction with VA Healthcare This study of Veterans’ satisfaction with outpatient, inpatient, and specialist care in a diverse sample of Veterans from predominantly minority-serving VAMCs sought to better understand racial/ethnic and gender variations in healthcare satisfaction. Findings showed generally high levels of healthcare satisfaction across 16 domains, with 83% of respondents somewhat or very satisfied with VA health...
Date: March 1, 2018
Medical Record Alert Associated with Reduced Opioid and Benzodiazepine Co-prescribing This implementation project evaluated the effectiveness of an advanced medication alert designed to reduce opioid and benzodiazepine co-prescribing among Veterans with high-risk conditions (substance use disorder, sleep apnea, suicide risk, and age =65) at one VA healthcare system (VA Puget Sound). Findings showed that the proportions of patients with concurrent prescriptions decreased significant...
Date: December 28, 2017
Effects of Cannabis among Adults with Chronic Pain This systematic review assesses the efficacy of cannabis for treating chronic pain, and provides a broad overview of the short- and long-term physical and mental health effects of cannabis use in chronic pain and general patient populations. Overall, investigators found low-strength evidence that cannabis may improve pain in some patients with neuropathic pain and insufficient evidence to characte...
Date: August 5, 2017
Systematic Review: Patient Outcomes in Dose Reduction or Discontinuation of Long-term Opioid Therapy Suggest Utility of Multimodal Care Investigators examined the evidence on the effectiveness of strategies to reduce or discontinue long-term opioid therapy (LTOT) prescribed for chronic pain – and the effect of dose reduction or discontinuation on important patient outcomes, including pain severity and pain-related function. Findings showed that there are multiple strategies to reduce or discontinue long-term opioid treatment for c...
Managing Chronic Pain
...use disorder compared to an educational supportive condition on measures of pain intensity, pain-related disability, and pain-tolerance. Background...
Pain in Patients with Polytrauma
...assessment tools been developed to measure pain intensity and pain-related functional interference among patients with cognitive deficits due...
Watch this video featuring HSR&D investigator Sarah Krein talking about her research on the impact of a walking program on chronic back pain.
Learn more about the projects being conducted within HSR&D's Pain Management CREATE (Collaborative Research to Enhance and Advance Transformation and Excellence) initiative.
Visit the VA's Office of Research & Development healthcare topic overview section to learn more about milestones in VA's pain management research, read research updates, and download research fact sheets.
