An Instrument to Assess the Functional Impact of Chronic Pain

Project Summary Abstract Evaluation and treatment for chronic pain are major contributors to rising healthcare costsAlthough accurate assessment of pain and function is the cornerstone to successful chronic pain managementsystematicobjective assessment of the functional impact of pain remains exceptionally challenging in practiceThe intricate nature of chronic pain demands a comprehensivemulti mode assessment methodology that combines subjective Patient Reported OutcomesPROswith objective dataThere is significant potential to reduce the costs associated with chronic pain and simultaneously improve outcomes by leveraging novelcutting edge sensing technology and analytical methods to provide new pain assessment and treatment evaluation informationThe proposed Fast Track SBIR effort will develop and validate the reliablelow cost KnowPain instrumentKnowPain will objectively and quantitatively assess the functional impact of chronic painFIPusing measures derived from six degrees of freedomDOFmotionheart rateskin surface temperatureand skin conductivity collected via a specially designedergonomic wrist worn biometric sensing instrumentThe new assessment instrument will apply advanced psychometric methods to both physiologic and kinematic data to provide precise scores for functional impairment due to chronic painThe validated instrument will be a fully automatedstand alone product available to clinicians assessing and treating chronic pain in a variety of settingsThe KnowPain instrument will be worn by the patient for a period of up to one weekafter which collected data will automatically be uploaded and processed by the systemandapos s custom software using Multidimensional Item Response Theory modelsThe assessment results will be presented to the clinician in an easy to understand report and will include longitudinal resultsconfidence estimatesand normative data to enable comparisons both within and between patientsThe system will include provision to interface with electronic medical recordsEMRsAccurate functional assessment is a crucial component in the effective treatment of chronic painThe proposed approach will supplement existing methods for assessing patient functione gPROsby providing novel and highly complementary information for a more completeand often unobservedpicture of the impact of chronic pain on patient functionKnowPain measures will provide important data on the practical consequences of pain and on treatment efficacyThe impact of chronic pain on daily life is a primary concern for patientspatients assign great value to pain interventions that improve their ability to participate in normal daily activitiesThe proposed KnowPain system will provide currently unavailable objective data to facilitate informed and effective pain management decisionsleading toreduced functional impairmentincreased mobilityand improved quality of lifede emphasis on medicationsparticularly opioidsandreduced disability and associated healthcare costsincluding workerandapos s compensation Project Narrative Products resulting from this grant will improve evaluation and treatment of chronic pain through more accurate assessment of the impact of chronic pain on daily physical functioning and on activities of daily livingThe ability to objectively determine the functional impact of pain will aid in selecting appropriate treatment interventions and in judging their effectivenessleading to more informed and ecacious treatmentAdditionallythe KnowPain instrument can be used in clinical trials for new pain treatments and other interventions