Pain, Inflammation and Opioid Craving

April 7, 2026 updated by: McHugh, R. Kathryn, Mclean Hospital

Affective and Inflammatory Reactivity to Pain in Opioid Use Disorder

The goal of this study is to investigate the association between response to pain and opioid craving in people with opioid use disorder. In this study, adults with opioid use disorder will be randomized to one of two brief education sessions followed by an assessment of response to pain. Investigators will test the association between response to pain and opioid craving.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

89

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 States
    • Massachusetts
      • Belmont, Massachusetts, United States, 02478
        • McLean Hospital

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

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • age 18 years or older;
  • diagnosis of opioid use disorder
  • chronic pain
  • ability to read and provide informed consent

Exclusion Criteria:

  • major psychiatric or medical condition that would interfere with participation
  • current opioid withdrawal
  • currently receiving opioid analgesic medication for pain
  • recent history of myocardial infarction or other serious cardiovascular condition
  • current peripheral neuropathy, active vasculitis or severe peripheral vascular disease
  • systematic inflammatory or autoimmune disorder
  • admitted to current treatment episode on an involuntary status

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: Other
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Single

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Pain De-Catastrophizing
Brief behavioral education on how to modify the interpretation of pain.
Behavioral: Pain De-Catastrophizing
Experimenter-administered education and skill practice.
Placebo Comparator: Pain Education
Brief behavioral education on pain.
Behavioral: Pain Education
Experimenter-administered education.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Craving
Time Frame: 30 minutes
Investigators will assess opioid craving using the Opioid Craving Scale, a participant-reported measure of opioid craving. Investigators will measure changes in Opioid Craving Scale total scores from baseline (prior to the one-time intervention) to immediately after the intervention. This is a continuous measure that will be measured twice within this single-session experimental session. The total scale score is calculated as an average of the 3 items, with a range from 0-10, with higher scores reflecting more craving.
30 minutes

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Mclean Hospital

Collaborators

National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Rebecca K McHugh, PhD, McLean Hospital

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)

May 4, 2021

Primary Completion (Actual)

July 31, 2025

Study Completion (Actual)

July 31, 2025

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

December 5, 2019

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

December 5, 2019

First Posted (Actual)

December 9, 2019

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

April 13, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 7, 2026

Last Verified

April 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 2019P002720
  • R01DA045632 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

UNDECIDED

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.

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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