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Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2019 Dec 18;14(12):e0225540.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0225540. eCollection 2019.

Effectiveness of integrative medicine group visits in chronic pain and depressive symptoms: A randomized controlled trial

Paula Gardiner  1 , Man Luo  2 , Salvatore D'Amico  2 , Katherine Gergen-Barnett  2 , Laura F White  3 , Robert Saper  2 , Suzanne Mitchell  2 , Jane M Liebschutz  4
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

Effectiveness of integrative medicine group visits in chronic pain and depressive symptoms: A randomized controlled trial

Paula Gardiner et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Background: Current treatment options for chronic pain and depression are largely medication-based, which may cause adverse side effects. Integrative Medical Group Visits (IMGV) combines mindfulness techniques, evidence based integrative medicine, and medical group visits, and is a promising adjunct to medications, especially for diverse underserved patients who have limited access to non-pharmacological therapies.

Objective: Determine the effectiveness of IMGV compared to a Primary Care Provider (PCP) visit in patients with chronic pain and depression.

Design: 9-week single-blind randomized control trial with a 12-week maintenance phase (intervention-medical groups; control-primary care provider visit).

Setting: Academic tertiary safety-net hospital and 2 affiliated federally-qualified community health centers.

Participants: 159 predominantly low income racially diverse adults with nonspecific chronic pain and depressive symptoms.

Interventions: IMGV intervention- 9 weekly 2.5 hour in person IMGV sessions, 12 weeks on-line platform access followed by a final IMGV at 21 weeks.

Measurements: Data collected at baseline, 9, and 21 weeks included primary outcomes depressive symptoms (Patient Health Questionnaire 9), pain (Brief Pain Inventory). Secondary outcomes included pain medication use and utilization.

Results: There were no differences in pain or depression at any time point. At 9 weeks, the IMGV group had fewer emergency department visits (RR 0.32, 95% CI: 0.12, 0.83) compared to controls. At 21 weeks, the IMGV group reported reduction in pain medication use (Odds Ratio: 0.42, CI: 0.18-0.98) compared to controls.

Limitations: Absence of treatment assignment concealment for patients and disproportionate group attendance in IMGV.

Conclusion: Results demonstrate that low-income racially diverse patients will attend medical group visits that focus on non-pharmacological techniques, however, in the attention to treat analysis there was no difference in average pain levels between the intervention and the control group.

Trial registration: clinicaltrials.gov NCT02262377.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Participant flow in CONSORT diagram.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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