Chronic Pain in Rheumatoid Arthritis
Active, not recruitingNCT05038553
View the official record on ClinicalTrials.gov Recruiting status changes often. Contact the study team listed on ClinicalTrials.gov, and talk to your doctor before joining a study.
This study has no listed site in Canada in this snapshot. It is included as part of the worldwide chronic pain corpus.
Brief summary (from the registry)
The objective is to identify modifiable clinical factors and neurobiological pathways that lead to the development of chronic pain in patients with early rheumatoid arthritis. Participants will undergo quantitative sensory testing, a type of testing that involves assessing response to well-defined, quantifiable painful stimuli, at 0, 3, and 12 months. A subset of participants will also undergo magnetic resonance imaging at 0 and 12 months to assess neuroimaging markers that have previously been shown to be involved in chronic pain.
Study details
- Official title
- CNS Pain Mechanisms in Early Rheumatoid Arthritis: Implications for the Acute to Chronic Pain Transition
- Conditions
- Arthritis, Rheumatoid
- Pain
- Interventions
- Sponsor
- Northwestern University
- Collaborators
- National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS); University of Michigan; Hospital for Special Surgery, New York; University of Colorado, Denver; Johns Hopkins University
- Start date
- 2021-10-12
- Primary completion
- 2027-02-28
- Sex
- All
- Age range
- from 18 Years
- Results posted
- No results posted in this snapshot
- Countries
- United States
- Total sites listed
- 5
Eligibility criteria
Show eligibility criteria (verbatim from the registry)
Inclusion Criteria for QST: 1. Age ≥18 years 2. Meet either the 1987 or 2010 American College of Rheumatology (ACR)/European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) criteria for RA 3. Persistent joint symptoms ≤ 2 years 4. Active inflammatory disease 5. If taking opioids on an as needed (prn) basis, must be able to hold opioid for 12 hours before study procedures 6. If taking NSAIDs, must be able to hold NSAIDS for 24 hours before study procedures 7. If taking a central-acting pain medication, must be on a stable dose and able to stay on a stable dose throughout study Exclusion Criteria for QST: 1. Routine, scheduled opioid use 2. Routine, scheduled prednisone dose \>10 mg or its equivalent 3. Peripheral neuropathy 4. Peripheral vascular disease 5. Raynaud's phenomenon requiring treatment, manifested by claudication or ischemic rest pain 6. Uncontrolled blood pressure Additional Inclusion Criteria for neuroimaging: 1. Age ≤ 80 years old 2. Right-handed or ambidextrous 3. Ability to lie on their back for the duration of the MRI scans Additional Exclusion Criteria for neuroimaging: 1. Severe claustrophobia precluding MRI 2. Unable to fit comfortably in the MRI scanner (usually only occurs if body mass index \>40 kg/m2) 3. Pregnant 4. Contraindications to MRI
Source: ClinicalTrials.gov (US National Library of Medicine), snapshot October 2026. Check the registry for current recruiting status. Record: https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT05038553