The study, the Hemodialysis Opioid Prescription Effort (HOPE) Consortium Trial, tested different strategies to help patients reduce or stop opioid use. Participants of the study received either pain coping skill therapy (PCST) or usual care. About half of participants were assigned to the pain coping skills training intervention, while the other half received usual clinical care with no trial-based intervention. The study included 643 adults, including patients at Northwest Kidney Centers clinics, undergoing dialysis and showed that those who received the pain coping skills training experienced better results than those who only received standard care..
“The results of the HOPE trial are tremendously exciting, as they show for the first time that cognitive behavioral therapy in the form of pain coping skills training can meaningfully improve the impact of chronic pain on the lives of dialysis patients living with such pain,” said Dr. Matt Rivara, chief medical officer of Northwest Kidney Centers. “I am proud that Northwest Kidney Centers served as a site for the HOPE trial, and that our patients were able to participate. I also congratulate the study investigators, including Dr. Mehrotra at the UW Kidney Research Institute, for the publication of this important research.”
The research suggests that this type of therapy could be a valuable alternative to pain medications, especially since traditional treatments like opioids can have harmful side effects in people with kidney failure. The study highlights the potential for non-drug-based interventions to improve the quality of life for dialysis patients. Future research will focus on how to maintain the benefits of this training over time and how to make it available to more people undergoing dialysis. Learn more here.