Efficacy of adding interoceptive exposure to intensive interdisciplinary treatment for adolescents with chronic pain: A randomized controlled trial

Efficacy of adding interoceptive exposure to intensive interdisciplinary treatment for adolescents with chronic pain: A randomized controlled trial

Flack F; Stahlschmidt L; Dobe M; Hirschfeld G; Kesper A; Michalak J; Wager J; Zernikow B

Pain

2018

Fear of pain plays an important role in the maintenance of chronic pain. It may be reduced through exposure therapy. This 2-arm parallel samples, randomized controlled trial aimed to investigate whether interoceptive exposure (IE) therapy enhances reductions in fear of pain (primary outcome), pain (pain intensity, pain-related disability, school absence) and emotional characteristics (anxiety, catastrophizing) when implemented as an adjunctive treatment in the context of intensive interdisciplinary pain treatment (IIPT) for pediatric chronic pain patients. N=126 adolescents, aged 11-17 years, who were receiving standard IIPT were randomly assigned to either receive additional IE (n=64) or additional relaxation therapy (RT) (n=62). All patients were assessed at admission, discharge and three months after discharge. The data of N=104 patients were analyzed. Significant large reductions were found in the total score and subscale scores of the Fear of Pain Questionnaire for Children in both study groups (e.g., total score (range 0-60; IE/RT): admission M=23.5/24.9; discharge M=16.0/19.7; p<.001, engp=.27) and mainly large reductions in pain characteristics. There were no greater decreases in the IE-group (p>.1). The exploratory analyses revealed that the patients with high fear of pain before treatment (p<.05, engp>.03) and the patients with abdominal pain (p<.04, engp>.25) showed greater decreases in their fear of pain (total and subscale score) in the IE-group than in the RT-group. In conclusion, the results suggest that IE is not particularly effective for all pediatric chronic pain patients, but patients with high fear of pain before treatment and with abdominal pain strongly benefit from this intervention. TRIAL REGISTRATION: This randomized controlled clinical trial was registered in the "German Clinical Trials Register" (trial number: DRKS00010030; name: Randomisiert kontrollierte Studie zur Wirksamkeit der Schmerzprovokation bei Jugendlichen mit chronischen Schmerzstorungen).

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August 2018 List