Lessening the Impact of Fatigue in Inflammatory Rheumatic Diseases (LIFT)

September 7, 2021 updated by: University of Aberdeen

Lessening the Impact of Fatigue in Inflammatory Rheumatic Diseases: A Randomised Clinical Trial

Fatigue is common and disabling for most patients with inflammatory rheumatic disease. Therapies designed to improve physical activity and 'talking' treatments, which positively help patients change the way they think and behave, are both helpful in reducing the burden of the fatigue. However, few patients have access to these treatments in most health services. This situation results from the absence of standardised programmes and limited availability of relevant therapists.

The investigators aim to enhance access to fatigue alleviating physical activity and talking therapies by testing innovative,standardised and cost-effective approaches to treatment delivery.

The investigators will also use this opportunity to understand how to select the best treatment for a patient based on their individual profile and to better understand how these treatments actually work. This in turn may lead to more refined and effective therapies in the future.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Eligible participants will be identified from patients with inflammatory rheumatic diseases attending major secondary care rheumatology services in the United Kingdom. Potential participants will be identified using local databases/clinic lists and will then be mailed a pre-study invite, which will include questions about fatigue. Potentially eligible participants will be invited to attend a baseline assessment.

Once it has been confirmed at the baseline assessement that they are eligible to take part in the study, the consented participant will be allocated to one of three treatment groups. During the course of the trial, the participant will be invited to visit the study centre three more times for assessments.

At each of the four assessment visits (baseline, and approximately 2, 7 and 13 months after) they will be asked:

  1. To complete questionnaires which collect information about various outcomes which we think will improve in response to the therapies under evaluation as well as factors which will help us understand how the treatments may work, and factors which may help identify those patients better suited to one therapy over another
  2. To provide a blood sample for research
  3. To take part in an aerobic fitness test
  4. To wear an activity monitor for the next 7 days which will be fitted at each visit
  5. To answer three short questions about engagement with intervention delivered by telephone from trial office at the time of session 4 and 8 (CBA and PEP intervention only). Similarly, the allocated therapists will be asked to give their view of the participants' engagement with the intervention.

All participants will be asked to keep a diary on any other treatments they are using in addition to the treatments they may receive during the study and how costly these other treatments are. The diary period will last for the first 6 months and then for 2 weeks after the third visit and 2 weeks before the last visit.

After they finished the study, the investigators may approach a subgroup of participants who received either the talking therapy or the personalised exercise programme again and ask for an interview to enable more detailed feedback on if they found the intervention helpful and how it has changed their daily life.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

368

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United Kingdom
      • Aberdeen, United Kingdom
        • NHS Grampian
      • Dundee, United Kingdom
        • NHS Tayside
      • Edinburgh, United Kingdom
        • NHS Lothian
      • Glasgow, United Kingdom
        • NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde
      • Newcastle Upon Tyne, United Kingdom, NE7 7DN
        • Newcastle Upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
      • Stoke on Trent, United Kingdom, ST6 7AG
        • Midlands Partnership NHS Foundation Trust

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • be ≥ 18 years at the time of consent
  • have been diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), systemic lupus erythematous (SLE), axial spondyloarthritis (AxSpA) or psoriatic arthritis (PSA) by a rheumatologist
  • report fatigue to be a persistent problem
  • have access to a telephone landline or mobile telephone and/or internet based audio/video calls
  • give permission for researchers to access their hospital medical notes
  • currently be under the care of a secondary care physician
  • have stable disease as evidenced by no change in immunomodulatory therapy within the last three months based on the hospital medical record

Exclusion Criteria:

  • there are significant abnormalities of thyroid function (TSH levels) on the most recent blood test done within the last three months
  • there is evidence of severe anaemia (haemoglobin levels) on the most recent blood test done within the last three months
  • there is evidence of severe renal dysfunction (eGFR) on the most recent blood test done within the last three months
  • they have a medical condition which would make the proposed interventions unsuitable, e.g. significant heart disease
  • they are pregnant
  • they are unable to understand English sufficiently to take part in the intervention
  • they are unable to provide written informed consent
  • they are not willing to be randomised
  • they are currently participating in an interventional clinical trial

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Double

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Active Comparator: Usual Care alone
Participants receive written information about fatigue which is designed as self-management guide.
Behavioral: Usual Care
Information booklet on fatigue which represents usual care in almost all UK rheumatology centres
Active Comparator: CBA + usual care
In addition to usual care, participants receive a talking therapy using a cognitive behavioural approach. The talking therapy will be delivered via telephone by a trained rheumatology health care professional who will contact the participant for 8 sessions over a period of 6 months.
Behavioral: Usual Care
Information booklet on fatigue which represents usual care in almost all UK rheumatology centres
Behavioral: Cognitive behavioural approach
A talking therapy which explicitly aims to replace unhelpful beliefs and behaviours through the application of patient-centred strategies and behavioural activities
Other Names:
  • CBA
Active Comparator: PEP + usual care
In addition to usual care, participants receive a personalised exercise programme. After an initial face-to-face assessment, the remaining programme will be delivered via telephone by a trained rheumatology health care professional who will contact the participant for 7 sessions over a period of 6 months.
Behavioral: Usual Care
Information booklet on fatigue which represents usual care in almost all UK rheumatology centres
Behavioral: Personalised Exercise Programme
PEP is a graded exposure behaviour therapy which aims to gradually optimise patients levels of physical activity with view to modifying their altered perception of effort and ultimately reduce the severity and impact of fatigue.
Other Names:
  • PEP

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Fatigue (severity) using Chalder Fatigue Scale (Likert)
Time Frame: 56 weeks
Chalder Fatigue Scale (Likert), assessed at 56 weeks after baseline, between-group change CBA+UC vs UC and PEP+UC vs UC with main estimate of treatment effect at 56 weeks after randomisation, Main estimate of treatment effect at 56 weeks
56 weeks
Fatigue (severity) using Chalder Fatigue Scale (Likert)
Time Frame: 10 weeks
Chalder Fatigue Scale (Likert), assessed at 10 weeks after baseline, between-group change CBA+UC vs UC and PEP+UC vs UC
10 weeks
Fatigue (severity) using Chalder Fatigue Scale (Likert)
Time Frame: 28 weeks
Chalder Fatigue Scale (Likert), assessed at 28 weeks after baseline, between-group change CBA+UC vs UC and PEP+UC vs UC
28 weeks
Fatigue (impact) using Fatigue Severity Scale
Time Frame: 56 weeks
Fatigue Severity Scale, co-primary outcome assessed at 56 weeks after baseline, between-group change CBA+UC vs UC and PEP+UC vs UC with main estimate of treatment effect at 56 weeks
56 weeks
Fatigue (impact) using Fatigue Severity Scale
Time Frame: 10 weeks
Fatigue Severity Scale, co-primary outcome assessed at 10 weeks after baseline, between-group change CBA+UC vs UC and PEP+UC vs UC
10 weeks
Fatigue (impact) using Fatigue Severity Scale
Time Frame: 28 weeks
Fatigue Severity Scale, co-primary outcome assessed at 28 weeks after baseline, between-group change CBA+UC vs UC and PEP+UC vs UC
28 weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Fatigue (physical, living, cognition and emotional aspects) using Bristol Rheumatoid Arthritis Fatigue Multi-Dimensional Questionnaire
Time Frame: 0, 10 weeks, 28 weeks, 56 weeks after randomisation
Bristol Rheumatoid Arthritis Fatigue Multi-Dimensional Questionnaire
0, 10 weeks, 28 weeks, 56 weeks after randomisation
Quality of life & health utility index
Time Frame: 0, 10 weeks, 28 weeks, 56 weeks after randomisation
SF-12
0, 10 weeks, 28 weeks, 56 weeks after randomisation
Pain using numerical rating scale
Time Frame: 0, 10 weeks, 28 weeks, 56 weeks after randomisation
Pain numerical rating scale
0, 10 weeks, 28 weeks, 56 weeks after randomisation
Anxiety and depression using Hospital anxiety and depression scale
Time Frame: 0, 10 weeks, 28 weeks, 56 weeks after randomisation
Hospital anxiety and depression scale
0, 10 weeks, 28 weeks, 56 weeks after randomisation
Impact on work using Work Productivity and Activity Impairment Questionnaire
Time Frame: 0, 10 weeks, 28 weeks, 56 weeks after randomisation
Work Productivity and Activity Impairment Questionnaire: Specific Health Problem
0, 10 weeks, 28 weeks, 56 weeks after randomisation
Impact on activities using Valued Life Activities Scale
Time Frame: 0, 10 weeks, 28 weeks, 56 weeks after randomisation
Valued Life Activities Scale
0, 10 weeks, 28 weeks, 56 weeks after randomisation
Change of global health
Time Frame: 10 weeks, 28 weeks, 56 weeks after randomisation
Single question to indicate perceived change in global health compared with last assessment visit
10 weeks, 28 weeks, 56 weeks after randomisation

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

University of Aberdeen

Collaborators

Versus Arthritis

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Gary Macfarlane, PhD, University of Aberdeen
  • Principal Investigator: Neil Basu, MBChB, PhD, University of Glasgow

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Helpful Links

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

September 5, 2017

Primary Completion (Actual)

November 2, 2020

Study Completion (Actual)

November 2, 2020

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

February 15, 2017

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

August 11, 2017

First Posted (Actual)

August 14, 2017

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

September 16, 2021

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

September 7, 2021

Last Verified

September 1, 2021

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 2.049.16
  • Epi029 (Other Identifier: Epidemiology Group, University of Aberdeen)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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