PAIN PATH

Summary

Inflammatory arthritis refers to conditions causing joint pain and swelling. The most common conditions are “rheumatoid arthritis”, “psoriatic arthritis”, and “axial spondyloarthritis”.

Inflammatory arthritis affects as many as 1 in 100 people in the UK. Despite the availability of powerful medicines that reduce joint inflammation, many people with inflammatory arthritis suffer from pain every day. This pain can be life changing. It can affect all parts of their lives, including how they sleep, feel, and move.

Strong pain medicines like “opioids” and “gabapentinoids” are often prescribed for long periods of time to people with inflammatory arthritis. However, no studies have looked at if they help pain in people with inflammatory arthritis if used like this. They also often cause side-effects.

Studies have shown that many non-drug treatments like exercise, footwear, and talking therapies can help pain in people with inflammatory arthritis. We do not know how often these non-drug treatments are used in people with inflammatory arthritis.

To improve NHS pain care in people with inflammatory arthritis, we first need to know how it is being treated. The PAIN PATH studies will do this in the following ways.

• “The PAIN PATH Survey” (Study 1): this involves people with inflammatory arthritis completing a short, one-off questionnaire about their pain and the pain care they have received for their arthritis.
• “The PAIN PATH Longitudinal Study” (Study 2): this involves people with inflammatory arthritis answering text-messages on their mobile phone twice a day for 14 days to understand how often and why they take pain medicines.

Study design

“The PAIN PATH Survey” (Study 1): this involves people with inflammatory arthritis completing a short, one-off questionnaire about their pain and the pain care they have received for their arthritis. 

“The PAIN PATH Longitudinal Study” (Study 2): this involves people with inflammatory arthritis answering text-messages on their mobile phone twice a day for 14 days to understand how often and why they take pain medicines.

Aims and objectives

Together, these studies will answer many important questions including:

• What is the pain experience of people with inflammatory arthritis? - this will help us better understand the impact that pain has on their lives. 
• Does pain care in people with inflammatory arthritis follow expert recommendations? – this will show areas of pain care that most need improving.
• Do all people with inflammatory arthritis receive the same pain care? – understanding this is important to making sure pain care is equal for everyone.
• How often do people with inflammatory arthritis use pain medicines? – knowing this will help us better understand the burden of pain and pain medicine use on their lives.
• Why do people with inflammatory arthritis take pain medicines? – people may use pain medicines for many reasons like helping them sleep. Knowing this will help us develop information for people about how to use their pain medicines safely.