Search

Background The Improving the Wellbeing of people with Opioid Treated CHronic pain (I-WOTCH) randomised controlled trial found that a group-based educational intervention to support people using strong opioids for chronic non-malignant pain helped a significant proportion of people to stop or decrease opioid use with no increase in pain-related disability. We report a linked process evaluation of the group-based intervention evaluated in comparison to a usual-care control group that received a self-help booklet and relaxation CD.Methods We interviewed 18 intervention facilitators, and 20 intervention and 20 control participants who had chronic non-malignant pain and were recruited from general (family) practices in the UK. Quantitative data included change mechanism questions on the trial questionnaires which explored motivation, expectations and self-efficacy. Fidelity was assessed by listening to a sample of audio-recorded group sessions and nurse consultations. Quantitative and qualitative data were integrated using ‘follow a thread’ and a mixed-methods matrix.Findings Four overarching themes emerged: (1) the right time to taper, (2) the backdrop of a life with chronic pain, (3) needing support and (4) the benefits of being in a group. Delivery fidelity was good, adherence (83%) and competence (79%) across a range of intervention groups. Staff delivering the intervention found three typical responses to the intervention: resistance, open to trying and feeling it was not the right time. The group experience was important to those in the intervention arm. It provided people with a forum in which to learn about the current thinking about opioid usage and its effects. It also gave them examples of how feasible or personally relevant coming off opioids might be.Conclusion The process evaluation data showed that the I-WOTCH intervention was well delivered, well received and useful for most interviewees. Being ‘the right time’ to taper and having support throughout tapering, emerged as important factors within the context of living with chronic pain.Trial registration number ISRCTN49470934.

Background Headaches are a leading cause of years lived with disability. For some people, headaches become chronic and disabling, with treatment options being primarily pharmaceutical. Non-pharmacological alternative treatment approaches are worthy of exploration. Aim To develop and test an educational and supportive self-management intervention for people with chronic headaches. Objectives To develop and evaluate a brief diagnostic interview to support diagnosis for people with chronic headaches, and then to develop and pilot an education and self-management support intervention for the management of common chronic headache disorders (the CHESS intervention). To select the most appropriate outcome measures for a randomised controlled trial of the CHESS intervention, and then to conduct a randomised controlled trial and economic evaluation of the CHESS intervention with an embedded process evaluation. Design Developmental and feasibility studies followed by a randomised controlled trial. Setting General practice and community settings in the Midlands and London, UK. Participants For our feasibility work, 14 general practices recruited 131 people with chronic headaches (headaches on ≥15 days per month for >3 months). People with chronic headaches and expert clinicians developed a telephone classification interview for chronic headache that we validated with 107 feasibility study participants. We piloted the CHESS intervention with 13 participants and refined the content and structure based on their feedback. People with chronic headaches contributed to the decisions about our primary outcome and a core outcome set for chronic and episodic migraine. For the randomised controlled trial, we recruited adults with chronic migraine or chronic tension-type headache and episodic migraine, with or without medication overuse headache, from general practices and via self-referral. Our main analyses were on people with migraine. Interventions The CHESS intervention consisted of two 1-day group sessions focused on education and self-management to promote behaviour change and support learning strategies to manage chronic headaches. This was followed by a one-to-one nurse consultation and telephone support. The control intervention consisted of feedback from classification interviews, headache management leaflet and a relaxation compact disc. Main outcome measures The primary outcome was headache-related quality of life measured using the Headache Impact Test-6 at 12 months. The secondary outcomes included the Chronic Headache Quality of Life Questionnaire; headache days, duration and severity; EuroQol-5 Dimensions, five-level version; Short Form Questionnaire-12 items; Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale; and Pain Self-Efficacy Questionnaire scores. We followed up participants at 4, 8 and 12 months. Results Between April 2017 and March 2019, we randomised 736 participants from 164 general practices. Nine participants (1%) had chronic tension-type headache only. Our main analyses were on the remaining 727 participants with migraine (376 in the intervention arm and 351 in the usual-care arm). Baseline characteristics were well matched. For the primary outcome we had analysable data from 579 participants (80%) at 12 months. There was no between-group difference in the Headache Impact Test-6 at 12 months, (adjusted mean difference –0.3, 95% confidence interval –1.23 to 0.67; p = 0.56). The limits of the 95% confidence interval effectively exclude the possibility of the intervention having a worthwhile benefit. At 4 months there was a difference favouring the CHESS self-management programme on the Headache Impact Test-6 (adjusted mean difference –1.0, 95% confidence interval –1.91 to –0.006; p = 0.049). However, the self-management group also reported 1.5 (95% confidence interval 0.48 to 2.56) more headache days in the previous 28 days. Apart from improved pain self-efficacy at 4 and 12 months, there were few other statistically significant between-group differences in the secondary outcomes. The CHESS intervention generated 0.031 (95% confidence interval –0.005 to 0.063) additional quality-adjusted life-years and increased NHS and Personal Social Services costs by £268 (95% confidence interval £176 to £377), on average, generating an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio of £8617 with an 83% chance of being cost-effective at a willingness-to-pay threshold of £20,000 per quality-adjusted life-year. The CHESS intervention was well received and fidelity was good. No process-related issues were identified that would explain why the intervention was ineffective. Limitations Only 288 out of 376 (77%) of those randomised to the CHESS intervention attended one or more of the intervention sessions. Conclusions This short, non-pharmacological, educational self-management intervention is unlikely to be effective for the treatment of people with chronic headaches and migraine. Future work There is a need to develop and test more sustained non-pharmacological interventions for people with chronic headache disorders. Patient and public involvement Substantial patient and public involvement went into the design, conduct and interpretation of the CHESS programme. This helped direct the research and ensured that the patient voice was embedded in our work. Trial registration This trial is registered as ISRCTN79708100. Funding This project was funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Programme Grants for Applied Research programme and will be published in full in Programme Grants for Applied Research; Vol. 11, No. 2. See the NIHR Journals Library website for further information. Plain language summary What did we want to find out? We wanted to find out if an education and self-management support programme for people with frequent headaches made these people feel better. What did we do? We first made sure that we could find people with frequent headaches, from general practice, who would want to take part in our study. We then trained nurses to do telephone interviews to find out what sort of headaches people had. We looked at previous research and then, together with people with frequent headaches, designed a group education and self-management programme. It was run by a nurse and another health professional over 2 days, followed by a one-to-one session and telephone support with a nurse. We worked with people with frequent headaches and health professionals specialising in headaches to agree how best to measure how headaches affect people’s quality of life. We then tested our self-management programme. We recruited 736 people with frequent headaches, of whom 727 had migraine. Using a computer, we allocated them at random either to attend the self-management programme or to receive a relaxation compact disc. Everyone was told their headache type. We asked participants to tell us about their headaches and headache quality of life after 4 months, 8 months and 12 months. What did we find? Our main results are for the 727 people with migraine. Our support programme did not help people in our study with frequent migraines to live better. There were also no important differences in the number of headaches people had each month or the amount of prescribed or over-the-counter medication they took for their headaches. What does this mean? Our short 2-day programme did not appear to improve headache-related quality of life or reduce the number of headache days. Other ways of helping people manage their chronic headaches are needed. Scientific summary Background Headaches are second to low back pain as a global cause of years lived with disability. Headaches are the most common neurological disorder treated in primary care. They account for around 3% of general practitioner consultations. Seventy per cent of people with headaches seen by their general practitioner do not get a formal diagnosis. For some people headaches become a chronic disabling disorder. There is a need for more non-pharmacological treatments to help those living with headache disorders. Our overarching aim was to develop and test a supportive education and self-management group intervention, implementable in primary care, for people with chronic headaches. Objectives The objectives of the programme were to: •develop and test strategies for recruiting people with chronic headaches from primary care [work package (WP) 1] •develop and evaluate a brief classification interview to support diagnosis for people with chronic headaches (WP2) •develop and pilot an education and self-management support intervention for the management of common chronic headache disorders [the Chronic Headache Education and Self-management Study (CHESS) intervention] (WP3) •select the most appropriate outcome measures for a randomised controlled trial of the CHESS intervention package (WP4) •run a multicentre randomised controlled trial, including an economic evaluation, of the CHESS intervention package (WP5). Methods and results We used an epidemiological definition of chronic headaches: headaches on ≥15 days per month for >3 months. Phase 1 of our work, WPs 1–4, consisted of interlinked systematic reviews and a feasibility study. Feasibility study (work package 1) Fourteen general practices in the West Midlands recruited 131 people with chronic headaches by writing to people with recorded consultations for headaches and prescriptions for migraine-specific drugs (triptans and pizotifen). Eligibility was confirmed by a telephone call by the study team. This group was our sampling frame for WPs 2–4. Classification interview (work package 2) We wanted to identify the population of interest for the main trial but also to feel confident that those who had other headache types not suitable for our trial were appropriately identified and referred for relevant support. We first reviewed the literature on diagnostic tools and found 38 papers validating 30 tools. We did not find any tools that were suitable for our proposed trial. We therefore organised a consensus meeting to inform our thinking on the content of a new classification tool. This was attended by neurologists with a specialist interest in headaches, general neurologists, headache specialist nurses, general practitioners with a specialist interest in headaches and people with chronic headaches. We established what we needed to know from a person to: •exclude secondary headaches •exclude primary headaches other than chronic migraine and tension-type headache •distinguish between chronic tension-type headache and chronic migraine •identify medication overuse headache. We used this information to develop a classification logic model for use in a nurse-delivered classification interview. A research nurse and a doctor, with expertise in headaches, from the National Migraine Centre then independently interviewed 107 participants. We found a high level of agreement between the nurse and specialist. Over 90% of study participants were classified as having chronic migraine. Intervention development (work package 3) Three systematic reviews informed our intervention development. Using a meta-ethnographic approach our systematic review of the lived experience of chronic headaches (n = 4 studies) we found three overarching themes: •headache as a driver of behaviour •the spectre of headache •strained relationships. In our systematic review of prognostic factors in chronic headache (n = 27 studies), we found moderate evidence for depression and anxiety, poor sleep, stress, medication overuse and poor self-efficacy predicting a poor outcome. We found inconclusive evidence for treatment expectations, age and age at onset, body mass index, employment and headache features predicting a poor outcome. In our systematic review of the effectiveness, style and content of self-management interventions for chronic headache (n = 16 studies) we found beneficial effects of the interventions compared with usual care in pain intensity, headache-related disability and quality of life. Interventions including either education or mindfulness components, and delivered in a group format, showed greater reductions in pain intensity than interventions without these features. A greater beneficial effect on mood was observed in interventions that included a cognitive–behavioural approach component than in those without this. We interviewed seven people living with chronic headaches recruited through our charity partners. We found that participants had tried a range of therapies and interventions, some of which were helpful and others less so. Access to education and peer support was deemed positive, as was learning new skills such as relaxation, mindfulness and stress management. We then presented our findings to 18 people from clinical, academic and lay backgrounds at an intervention development day to agree the structure and content of our new intervention. We agreed on a modular group intervention for 8–10 people delivered by a nurse and a layperson with chronic headaches. It should include educational material, self-management material and medication advice, and include a digital versatile disc (DVD) suitable to share with friends and family. We included a single face-to-face session and up to 8 weeks of telephone support with a specially trained nurse. After piloting with 13 participants, we identified that it was difficult for lay facilitators to commit to the sessions because of the unpredictable nature of their headaches. We therefore changed to using allied health professionals as the second facilitator. The final format was two group days followed by a one-to-one session with a nurse to discuss medication, lifestyle factors and goal-setting, followed by up to 8 weeks of telephone support (individually negotiated). Clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness measures (work package 4) In our systematic review of patient-reported outcomes (46 studies evaluating 23 patient measures) we found that for a ‘headache’ population only the Headache Impact Test-6 (HIT-6) had acceptable evidence for its validity and reliability for use in our trial. The Migraine-Specific Quality of Life Questionnaire (MSQ v2.1) had relevance to our population. We modified this measure, changing the focus of each item from ‘migraine’ to ‘headache’ to produce the Chronic Headache Quality of Life Questionnaire (CHQLQ) and did a mixed-methods comparative evaluation of the CHQLQ and HIT-6. Both the CHQLQ and the HIT-6 were well completed, had good psychometric properties and were relevant to the experience of headache. The CHQLQ captured the wide-ranging impact of chronic headache, in particular the emotional impact, to a greater extent than the HIT-6. As this work was not complete before starting the main trial, we set HIT-6 as the primary outcome for the trial and the CHQLQ as a secondary outcome. We developed three questions to capture headache frequency, duration and severity for use in a smartphone application (app) or in a paper diary. Eight feasibility participants tested the app over 11 weeks. Feedback was positive but completion rates varied. We included the app as part of the main trial. From our work on outcome measures we identified the need for a core outcome set for migraine. This work took place after the design of the randomised controlled trial had been finalised. We identified >50 domains from our systematic reviews and our qualitative work. We did a modified, three-round electronic Delphi study with patients and professionals to identify which domains were most important. At a consensus day, when the aim was to ratify the core domains, a two-domain core outcome set was agreed for chronic and episodic migraine: 1.migraine-specific pain – to be assessed with an 11-point numerical pain rating scale, and frequency as the number of headache/migraine days over a specified period 2.migraine-specific quality of life to be assessed with the Migraine Functional Impact Questionnaire (MFIQ). Professor Underwood, the chief investigator for this study, is a director and shareholder of Clinvivo Ltd, who provided the Delphi platform. He recused himself from any discussions related to the choice of Delphi platform for this study. Phase 2: randomised controlled trial, work package 5 Phase 2 of the programme was a randomised controlled trial to evaluate the clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of the CHESS intervention package. We identified people with chronic headaches from general practice records. Self-referral to the trial was also possible. We included adults with migraine or tension-type headache with or without medication overuse headache. People who appeared eligible after an initial telephone call were asked to provide consent and baseline measures. This was followed by a classification interview with a research nurse to confirm eligibility and identify people with suspected non-eligible headaches. After the feasibility study we specified that if at least 85% of our participants had migraine our primary analysis would just be on the population with migraine, with sample size inflated, if necessary, to ensure adequate statistical power for this analysis. The randomisation allocation ratio was 1 : 1.07 in favour of the intervention group to account for clustering in one arm. Randomisation was done using minimisation, stratifying by geographical locality (Midlands and Greater London) and headache type [definite chronic migraine, probable chronic migraine (i.e. episodic migraine plus chronic tension-type headache) and chronic tension-type headache only, with or without medication overuse headache]. Our primary outcome was the HIT-6 score at 1 year. We used the Migraine-Specific Quality of Life Questionnaire as the secondary headache disability outcome. We did follow-ups at 4, 8 and 12 months. The sample size was based on testing the clinical effectiveness in the migraine population excluding participants with just tension-type headache (n = 689 participants: relaxation arm, n = 689; self-management arm, n = 356) provided 90% power to detect a between-group difference of 2 points (standard deviation 6.87 points, from the feasibility study) in HIT-6 score at 12 months for those with migraine using a two-sided test and a 5% significance level with a 20% loss to follow-up. Some over-run on sample size was expected to allow all groups to be adequately populated. We did a within-trial health economic analysis. Between April 2017 and March 2019, staff at 164 general practices in the Midlands and London wrote to 31,026 people and we randomised 736 people, 727 (99%) with migraine: 54% (396/727) had chronic migraine and 56% (407/727) medication overuse headache. Despite reporting chronic headache when eligibility for the study was determined, after receiving informed consent at baseline, 38% (274/727) reported < 15 headache days in the preceding 4 weeks. Unless otherwise stated, analyses were on the 727 participants with migraine. Baseline characteristics were well matched. The first session was attended by 286 out of 376 (76%) intervention participants; 259 (69%) reached the minimum adherence (day 1, and the one-to-one session) and 216 (58%) achieved full adherence to the programme. There was no between-group difference in HIT-6 scores at 12 months [adjusted mean difference –0.3 points, 95% confidence interval (CI) –1.23 to 0.67 points; p = 0.56]. The limits of this 95% CI excluded our target (worthwhile) effect size of 2.0 points and the smaller minimally clinically important difference of 1.5 points suggested by others for studies of episodic migraine. At 4 months there was a difference favouring the CHESS self-management programme (adjusted mean difference –1.0 points; 95% CI –1.91 to –0.006 points; p = 0.049). There were few differences in secondary outcomes. The self-management group had 1.5 (95% CI 0.48 to 2.56; p = 0.004) more headache days over the preceding 28 days at 4 months. They also had improved pain self-efficacy scores at 4 and 12 months. Use of acute drugs, including both prescribed and over-the-counter drugs, and prophylactic drugs was unchanged over time with no between-group differences. Using electronic/paper diary data the difference over 12 months in number of headache days was 0.2 days (95% CI –0.11 to 0.46 days; p = 0.234), difference in duration of each headache was 0.4 hours (95% CI –0.47 to 1.28 hours; p = 0.361) and difference in average headache severity on a 0–10 scale was 0.2 (95% CI –0.08 to 0.46; p = 0.163). We found no subgroup effects. Our complier-average causal effect and sensitivity analyses were not materially different. There were seven adverse events: two in the standard-care arm and five in the self-management arm. The CHESS intervention generated 0.031 (95% CI –0.005 to 0.063) additional quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs) and increased NHS and Personal Social Services costs by £268 (95% CI £176 to £377), generating an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio of £8617 with an 83% chance of being cost-effective at a willingness to pay of £20,000 per QALY gained. Our process evaluation, including all 736 participants, showed that we recruited a nationally representative population including people from practices based in all 10 deciles of the Index of Multiple Deprivation; 18% of participants were from minority ethnic groups. Intervention fidelity was good, with adherence being slightly better than competence [adherence 83% (interquartile range 67–100%); competence 70% (interquartile range 50–90%)]. We carried out semistructured interviews with a purposive sample of 26 study participants. Most participants described gaining some new knowledge or insight about their headaches from the intervention they received, and a few changed medication. Some felt more confident to manage their headaches, but many did not. CHESS was well received by participants, facilitators and general practitioners. Participants enjoyed interacting with others and valued the opportunity to talk, share and discuss their chronic headache experiences with others in a similar situation in a safe knowledgeable space. Patient and public involvement There has been substantial patient and public involvement in the design, conduct and interpretation of the CHESS programme. Throughout the programme we worked closely with three UK migraine charities and a lay advisory group to help direct the research and ensure that the patient voice was embedded in our work. Conclusions Over the duration of the CHESS programme, we have advanced our understanding of the challenges of living with chronic headaches and made some progress in developing the methodology for running randomised controlled trials of complex interventions for people living with chronic headaches. Our data effectively excluded the possibility that this short intervention is effective for the treatment of chronic migraine or chronic tension-type headache and episodic migraine. Although there was no effect on our chosen headache-specific outcomes, we have not excluded the possibility that it produces a worthwhile QALY gain, as measured by the EuroQol-5 Dimensions, five-level version. The health burden of chronic headache disorders, principally chronic migraine, is debilitating. Those living with the condition warrant support to optimise their care planning according to their needs and the latest knowledge about treatment and management. Further advances in this field must be driven by new theoretically and/or biologically informed intervention models. Research recommendations •New work to better understand the health impact of chronic headache disorders and to identify modifiable risk factors for a poor outcome. •Development and testing of new non-pharmacological interventions for a tightly phenotyped group with chronic migraine. •Research is needed to support improved classification of headache disorders in primary care to allow better targeting of the available drug treatments of proven effectiveness, and reduce medication overuse. Trial registration This trial is registered as ISRCTN79708100. Funding This project was funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Programme Grants for Applied Research programme and will be published in full in Programme Grants for Applied Research; Vol. 11, No. 2. See the NIHR Journals Library website for further project information.

Background: Between 2015 and 2019 the Chronic Headache Education and Self-management Study (CHESS) developed and tested a supportive self-management approach that aimed to improve outcomes for people with chronic migraine or chronic tension type headache with/without episodic migraine. However, a paucity of qualitative research which explored the lived experiences of people with chronic headache was evidenced. In response, we undertook to explore the experiences of living with chronic headaches of people who participated in the CHESS study. Methods: We adopted qualitative methodologies, inviting participants in the CHESS study to participate in semi-structured interviews. In phase 1 (feasibility study), a thematic analysis was conducted. In phase 2 (main CHESS trial), interviews were informed by topic guides developed from our learning from the phase 1 interviews. Pen portrait methodology and thematic analysis was employed allowing us to explore the data longitudinally. Results: Phase 1, 15 interviews (10 female) age range 29 to 69 years (median 47 years) revealed the complexities of living with chronic headache. Six overarching themes were identified including the emotional impact and the nature of their headaches. Phase 2, included 66 interviews (26 participants; median age group 50s (range 20s-60s); 20 females. 14 were interviewed at three points in time (baseline, 4 and 12 months) Through an iterative process four overlapping categories of headache impact emerged from the data and were agreed: i) 'I will not let headaches rule my life'; ii) 'Headaches rule my life'; iii) 'Headaches out of control—something needs to change'; and iv) 'Headaches controlled—not ruling my life'. One of these categories was assigned to each pen portrait at each timepoint. The remaining 12 participants were interviewed at two time points during a year; pen portraits were again produced. Analysis revealed that the headache impact categories developed above held true in this sample also providing some validation of the categories. Conclusions: These data give an insight into the complexities of living with chronic headache. Chronic headache is unpredictable, permeating all aspects of an individual's life; even when an individual feels that their headache is controlled and not interfering, this situation can rapidly change. It shows us that more work needs to be done both medically and societally to help people living with this often-hidden condition. Trial registration: ISRCTN79708100 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The Chronic Headache Education and Self-Management Study (CHESS) multicentre randomised trial evaluated the impact a group education and self-management support intervention with a best usual care plus relaxation control for people living with chronic headache disorders (tension type headaches or chronic migraine, with or without medication overuse headache). Here we report the process evaluation exploring potential explanations for the lack of positive effects from the CHESS intervention. Methods: The CHESS trial included 736 (380 intervention: 356 control) people across the Midlands and London UK. We used a mixed methods approach. Our extensive process evaluation looked at context, reach, recruitment, dose delivered, dose received, fidelity and experiences of participating in the trial, and included participants and trial staff. We also looked for evidence in our qualitative data to investigate whether the original causal assumptions underpinning the intervention were realised. Results: The CHESS trial reached out to a large diverse population and recruited a representative sample. Few people with chronic tension type headaches without migraine were identified and recruited. The expected 'dose'of the intervention was delivered to participants and intervention fidelity was high. Attendance ("dose received") fell below expectation, although 261/380 (69%) received at least at least the pre-identified minimum dose. Intervention participants generally enjoyed being in the groups but there was little evidence to support the causal assumptions underpinning the intervention were realised. Conclusions: From a process evaluation perspective despite our extensive data collection and analysis, we do not have a clear understanding of why the trial outcome was negative as the intervention was delivered as planned. However, the lack of evidence that the intervention causal assumptions brought about the planned behaviour change may provide some insight. Our data suggests only modest changes in managing headache behaviours and some disparity in how participants engaged with components of the intervention within the timeframe of the study. Moving forwards, we need a better understanding of how those who live with chronic headache can be helped to manage this disabling condition more effectively over time. Trial registration: ISRCTN79708100. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Background Acute lung injury complicates approximately 25-30% of subjects undergoing oesophagectomy. Experimental studies suggest that treatment with beta agonists may prevent the development of acute lung injury by decreasing inflammatory cell infiltration, activation and inflammatory cytokine release, enhancing basal alveolar fluid clearance and improving alveolar capillary barrier function. Methods/Design The Beta Agonist Lung Injury TrIal (prevention) is a multi-centre, randomised, double blind, placebo-controlled trial. The aim of the trial is to determine in patients undergoing elective transthoracic oesphagectomy, if treatment with inhaled salmeterol 100 mcg twice daily started at induction of anaesthesia and continued for 72 hours thereafter compared to placebo affect the incidence of early acute lung injury and other clinical, resource and patient focused outcomes. The primary outcome will be the development of acute lung injury within 72 hours of oesophagectomy. The trial secondary outcomes are the development of acute lung injury during the first 28 days post operatively; PaO2: FiO2 ratio; the number of ventilator and organ failure free days, 28 and 90 day survival; health related quality of life and resource utilisation. The study aims to recruit 360 patients from 10 UK centres. Trial registration number Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN47481946

Background: Proven treatments for low back pain, at best, only provide modest overall benefits. Matching people to treatments that are likely to be most effective for them may improve clinical outcomes and makes better use of health care resources.Methods: We conducted an individual participant data meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials of three types of therapist delivered interventions for low back pain (active physical, passive physical and psychological treatments). We applied two statistical methods (recursive partitioning and adaptive risk group refinement) to identify potential subgroups who might gain greater benefits from different treatments from our individual participant data meta-analysis.Results: We pooled data from 19 randomised controlled trials, totalling 9328 participants. There were 5349 (57%) females with similar ratios of females in control and intervention arms. The average age was 49 years (standard deviation, SD, 14). Participants with greater psychological distress and physical disability gained most benefit in improving on the mental component scale (MCS) of SF-12/36 from passive physical treatment than non-active usual care (treatment effects, 4.3; 95% confidence interval, CI, 3.39 to 5.15). Recursive partitioning method found that participants with worse disability at baseline gained most benefit in improving the disability (Roland Morris Disability Questionnaire) outcome from psychological treatment than non-active usual care (treatment effects, 1.7; 95% CI, 1.1 to 2.31). Adaptive risk group refinement did not find any subgroup that would gain much treatment effect between psychological and non-active usual care. Neither statistical method identified any subgroups who would gain an additional benefit from active physical treatment compared to non-active usual care.Conclusions: Our methodological approaches worked well and may have applicability in other clinical areas. Passive physical treatments were most likely to help people who were younger with higher levels of disability and low levels of psychological distress. Psychological treatments were more likely to help those with severe disability. Despite this, the clinical importance of identifying these subgroups is limited. The sizes of sub-groups more likely to benefit and the additional effect sizes observed are small. Our analyses provide no evidence to support the use of sub-grouping for people with low back pain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction Low-income and middle-income settings like India have large treatment gaps in mental healthcare. People with severe mental disorders face impediments to their clinical and functional recovery, and have large unmet needs. The infrastructure and standards of care are poor in colonial period psychiatric hospitals, with no clear pathways to discharge and successfully integrate recovered individuals into the community. Our aim is to study the impact of psychiatric hospital reform on individual patient outcomes in a psychiatric hospital in India. Methods and analysis Structured Individualised inTervention And Recovery (SITAR) is a two-arm pragmatic randomised controlled trial, focusing on patients aged 18–60 years with a hospital stay of 12–120 months and a primary diagnosis of psychosis. It tests the effectiveness of structural and process reform with and without an individually tailored recovery plan on patient outcomes of disability (primary outcome WHO Disability Assessment Scale), symptom severity, social and occupational functioning and quality of life. A computer-generated permuted block randomisation schedule will allocate recruited subjects to the two study arms. We aim to recruit 100 people into each trial arm. Baseline and outcome measures will be undertaken by trained researchers independent to the case managers providing the individual intervention. A health economic analysis will determine the costing of implementing the individually tailored recovery plan. Ethics and dissemination The study will provide answers to important questions around the nature and process of reforms in institutional care that promote recovery while being cognizant of protecting human rights, and dignity. Ethical approval for SITAR was obtained from a registered ethics committee in India (Institutional Ethics Committee VikasAnvesh Foundation, VAF/2018- 19/012 dated 6 December 2018) and the University of Warwick’s Biomedical and Scientific Research Ethics Committee (REGO-2019–2332, dated 21 March 2019), and registered on the Central Trial Registry of India (CTRI/2019/01/017267). Trial results will be published inaccordance to CONSORT guidelines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Self-management support programmes are effective in a range of chronic conditions however there is limited evidence for their use in the treatment of chronic headaches. The aim of this study was to test the feasibility of four key aspects of a planned, future evaluative trial of a new education and self-management intervention for people with chronic headache: 1) recruiting people with chronic headache from primary care; 2) a telephone interview for the classification of chronic headaches; 3) the education and self-management intervention itself; and 4) the most appropriate patient reported outcomes (PROMS).Methods: Participants were identified and recruited from general practices in the West Midlands of the UK. We developed a nurse-led chronic headache classification interview and assessed agreement with an interview with headache specialists. We developed and tested a group based education and self-management intervention to assess training and delivery receipt using observation, facilitator, and participant feedback. We explored the acceptability and relevance of PROMs using postal questionnaires, interviews and a smartphone app.Results: Fourteen practices took part in the study and participant recruitment equated to 1.0/1000 registered patients. Challenges to recruitment were identified. We did 107 paired headache classification interviews. The level of agreement between nurse and doctor interviews was very good. We piloted the intervention in four groups with 18 participants. Qualitative feedback from participants and facilitators helped refine the intervention including shortening the overall intervention and increasing the facilitator training time. Participants completed 131 baseline questionnaires, measurement data quality, reliability and validity for headache-specific and generic measures was acceptable.Conclusion: This study indicated that recruiting people with chronic headache from primary care is feasible but challenging, our headache classification interview is fit for purpose, our study intervention is viable, and that our choice of outcome measures is acceptable to participants in a future randomised controlled trial (RCT).Trial Registration: ISRCTN, ISRCTN79708100. Registered 16th December 2015, http://www.isrctn.com/ISRCTN79708100. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Optimising techniques to wean patients from invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV) remains a key goal of intensive care practice. The use of non-invasive ventilation (NIV) as a weaning strategy (transitioning patients who are difficult to wean to early NIV) may reduce mortality, ventilator-associated pneumonia and intensive care unit (ICU) length of stay., Objectives: Our objectives were to determine the cost effectiveness of protocolised weaning, including early extubation onto NIV, compared with weaning without NIV in a UK National Health Service setting., Methods: We conducted an economic evaluation alongside a multicentre randomised controlled trial. Patients were randomised to either protocol-directed weaning from mechanical ventilation or ongoing IMV with daily spontaneous breathing trials. The primary efficacy outcome was time to liberation from ventilation. Bivariate regression of costs and quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs) provided estimates of the incremental cost per QALY and incremental net monetary benefit (INMB) overall and for subgroups [presence/absence of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and operative status]. Long-term cost effectiveness was determined through extrapolation of survival curves using flexible parametric modelling., Results: NIV was associated with a mean INMB of £620 ($US885) (cost-effectiveness threshold of £20,000 per QALY) with a corresponding probability of 58% that NIV is cost effective. The probability that NIV is cost effective was higher for those with COPD (84%). NIV was cost effective over 5 years, with an estimated incremental cost-effectiveness ratio of £4618 ($US6594 per QALY gained)., Conclusions: The probability of NIV being cost effective relative to weaning without NIV ranged between 57 and 59% overall and between 82 and 87% for the COPD subgroup.