Areas of research that are considered in-scope for an ADVANCE research grant, with the condition of interest being osteoarthritis (OA) and chronic pain associated with OA, will include studies that aim to advance the understanding of the following.
- Evaluation of unmet medical needs in pain management associated with OA as follows:
- Benefit-risk assessment and patient preference in the choice of pain medication for patients with comorbid conditions (e.g., cardiovascular disease or history of substance abuse)
- How risks associated with long-term use of analgesics are assessed currently
- Treatment of chronic pain in special populations (e.g., postsurgical, elderly)
- Evaluation of multi-disciplinary approaches to management of OA (e.g., physical therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy [CBT]) and their combination with pharmacological treatment
- Understand and predict response to treatment, disease state, and course of OA (normal and rapid trajectories)
- Approaches to improving adherence to therapy or therapeutic regimes for pain associated with OA
- Use of patient characteristics such as biomarkers or other objective evaluations (e.g., quantitative sensory testing [QST], imaging modalities) in the assessment and management of OA to better understand disease course
- Evaluation of improved function
- How changes of physical function are assessed in clinical practice in patients with OA, and how current physical function assessment could be improved
- How individual goal setting can contribute to treatment outcome (including pain and function)
- What impact the improved physical function has on the patients’ quality of life.
