Evidence map›Paper›PMID 28244944›Full record

ArticleThe Clinical journal of pain2017

Goals of Chronic Pain Management: Do Patients and Primary Care Physicians Agree and Does it Matter?

Stephen G Henry, Robert A Bell, Joshua J Fenton, Richard L Kravitz

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in The Clinical journal of pain, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 39 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
39citing papers in PubMed, 2 pooled it
5.9field-weighted citation impact, top 3% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

39 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 85 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Dance for Chronic Pain Conditions: A Systematic Review.Pain medicine (Malden, Mass.) · 2022
    Pooled it
  3. Trial
  4. Trial
  5. Article
  6. Substance use and menopausal hormone therapy: Treatment initiation and interruption among US women with and without HIV, 2008-2019.International journal of gynaecology and obstetrics: the official organ of the International Federation of Gynaecology and Obstetrics · 2026
    Article
  7. Validity of Activity-Based Checks (ABCs) of Pain, A Functional Pain Scale.Pain management nursing : official journal of the American Society of Pain Management Nurses · 2026
    Article
  8. Article
  9. Article
  10. Article
  11. Article
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  13. Article
  14. Article
  15. Wellness of patients with chronic pain is not only about pain intensity.Pain practice : the official journal of World Institute of Pain · 2023
    Article
  16. Article
  17. Observational
  18. Article
  19. Article
  20. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.

Stephen G HenryDepartments of *Internal Medicine ‡Communication and Public Health Sciences §Family and Community Medicine, University of California, Davis †University of California Davis Center for Healthcare Policy and Research, Sacramento, CA.
Robert A Bell
Joshua J Fenton
Richard L Kravitz
Center For Policy Research · USUniversity of California, Davis · US

Funding

UC Davis Clinical and Translational Science CenterUL1TR001860 · NCATS · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT DAVIS · PI KENYON, NICHOLAS J., LYLES, COURTNEY REES · 2016 to 2025
$47.3M
UC Davis Clinical and Translational Science CenterUL1TR000002 · NCATS · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT DAVIS · PI BERGLUND, LARS F · 2012 to 2015
$12.2M
UC Davis Clinical and Translational Science CenterKL2TR000134 · NCATS · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT DAVIS · PI BERGLUND, LARS F · 2012 to 2015
$3.1M
N-of-1 Trials Using mHealth in Chronic PainR01NR013938 · NINR · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT DAVIS · PI KRAVITZ, RICHARD L · 2012 to 2016
$2.9M
A clinician training intervention to improve pain-related communication, pain management and opioid prescribing in primary careK23DA043052 · NIDA · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT DAVIS · PI HENRY, STEPHEN G · 2017 to 2019
$591k
NCATS NIH HHS KL2 TR000134NCATS NIH HHS UL1 TR000002NCATS NIH HHS UL1 TR001860NIDA NIH HHS K23 DA043052NINR NIH HHS R01 NR013938
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectiveAssess patient-physician agreement on management goals for chronic musculoskeletal pain and its associations with patient and physician visit experiences. MATERIALS AND

methodsPre-visit and post-visit questionnaires for 87 primary care visits that involved patients taking opioids for chronic musculoskeletal pain and primary care resident physicians. After each visit, patients and physicians independently ranked 5 pain treatment goals from most to least important.

resultsIn total, 48% of patients ranked reducing pain intensity as their top priority, whereas 22% ranked finding a diagnosis as most important. Physicians ranked improving function as the top priority for 41% of patients, and ranked reducing medication side effects as most important for 26%. The greatest difference between patient and physician rankings was for reducing pain intensity. In regression analyses, neither overall agreement on goals (ie, the physician's first or second priority included the patient's top priority) nor difference in patient versus physician ranking of pain intensity was significantly associated with patient-reported visit experience (β for overall agreement, -0.08; 95% confidence interval [CI], -0.45 to 0.30; P=0.69; β for intensity, -0.06; 95% CI, -0.17 to 0.04; P=0.24) or physician-reported visit difficulty (β for overall agreement, 1.92; 95% CI, -2.70 to 6.55; P=0.41; β for intensity, 0.42; 95% CI, -0.87 to 1.71; P=0.53). DISCUSSION: Patients and physicians prioritize substantially different goals for chronic pain management, but there is no evidence that agreement predicts patient experience or physician-reported visit difficulty. Primary care physicians may have adapted to new recommendations that emphasize functional goals and avoidance of long-term opioid therapy, whereas patients continue to focus on reducing pain intensity.

Indexed as

GoalsAdultAnalgesics, OpioidChronic PainFemaleHumansLinear ModelsMaleMiddle AgedMusculoskeletal PainPain ManagementPhysician-Patient RelationsPhysicians, Primary CareSocioeconomic FactorsSurveys and QuestionnairesAnalgesics, Opioid

Identifiers

PMID28244944
PMCPMC5572549
OpenAlexW2594651034

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceTDM
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.