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Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2018 Sep 19;19(1):337.
doi: 10.1186/s12891-018-2249-6.

Pain coping skills training for African Americans with osteoarthritis study: baseline participant characteristics and comparison to prior studies

Kelli D Allen  1   2   3 , Liubov Arbeeva  4   5 , Crystal W Cené  5 , Cynthia J Coffman  6   7 , Kimberlea F Grimm  4   5 , Erin Haley  8 , Francis J Keefe  9 , Caroline T Nagle  5 , Eugene Z Oddone  6   10 , Tamara J Somers  9 , Yashika Watkins  11 , Lisa C Campbell  8
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

Pain coping skills training for African Americans with osteoarthritis study: baseline participant characteristics and comparison to prior studies

Kelli D Allen et al. BMC Musculoskelet Disord. .

Abstract

Background: The Pain Coping Skills Training for African Americans with OsteoaRTthritis (STAART) trial is examining the effectiveness of a culturally enhanced pain coping skills training (CST) program for African Americans with osteoarthritis (OA). This disparities-focused trial aimed to reach a population with greater symptom severity and risk factors for poor pain-related outcomes than previous studies. This paper compares characteristics of STAART participants with prior studies of CST or cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)-informed training in pain coping strategies for OA.

Methods: A literature search identified 10 prior trials of pain CST or CBT-informed pain coping training among individuals with OA. We descriptively compared characteristics of STAART participants with other studies, in 3 domains of the National Institutes of Minority Health and Health Disparities' Research Framework: Sociocultural Environment (e.g., age, education, marital status), Biological Vulnerability and Mechanisms (e.g, pain and function, body mass index), and Health Behaviors and Coping (e.g., pain catastrophizing). Means and standard deviations (SDs) or proportions were calculated for STAART participants and extracted from published manuscripts for comparator studies.

Results: The mean age of STAART participants, 59 years (SD = 10.3), was lower than 9 of 10 comparator studies; the proportion of individuals with some education beyond high school, 75%, was comparable to comparator studies (61-86%); and the proportion of individuals who are married or living with a partner, 42%, was lower than comparator studies (62-66%). Comparator studies had less than about 1/3 African American participants. Mean scores on the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index pain and function scales were higher (worse) for STAART participants than for other studies, and mean body mass index of STAART participants, 35.2 kg/m2 (SD = 8.2), was higher than all other studies (30-34 kg/m2). STAART participants' mean score on the Pain Catastrophizing scale, 19.8 (SD = 12.3), was higher (worse) than other studies reporting this measure (7-17).

Conclusions: Compared with prior studies with predominantly white samples, STAART participants have worse pain and function and more risk factors for negative pain-related outcomes across several domains. Given STAART participants' high mean pain catastrophizing scores, this sample may particularly benefit from the CST intervention approach.

Trial registration: NCT02560922.

Keywords: Health disparities; Hip; Knee; Osteoarthritis; Pain coping skills training.

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Conflict of interest statement

Ethics approval and consent to participate

This research is in compliance with the Helsinki Declaration and was approved by the Institutional Review Boards of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Durham Veterans Affairs Medical Center, East Carolina University, and Duke University Health System. All study participants provided written informed consent.

Consent for publication

Not applicable

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

References

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