The BRIDGE Pain Study (BRIDGE)

May 16, 2026 updated by: Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati

Biopsychosocial Risk Influences on the Development and Generation of Early-Onset Chronic Pain

The purpose of the study is to discover at least two distinct Musculoskeletal pain subtypes. These types are caused by different brain-and-immune system signals that affect how the body feels pain, and they are also shaped by a person's biology, psychology, and social environment.

Aim 1. We want to sort adolescents and young adults with long lasting muscle and bone pain into two different groups. To do this, we will look at participants' childhood medical histories, past treatments, when their pain started, the sex they were assigned at birth, what their pain feels like now, tests of how their body senses pain, and immune system markers found in their blood. We think we will find at least two different types of chronic pain groups, plus one group of patients who had a higher risk for pain (because of a rheumatic disease or past surgery) but never developed long term pain.

Aim 2. We want to find out if certain patterns of inflammation in the body change how nerve cells react to pain.

Aim 3: We want to understand how different biological, psychological, and social factors are connected to the chronic pain groups we identified. We think we will find certain mental, behavioral, and social risks-as well as protective factors-that help explain why some people develop long-lasting pain and others do not. We expect these factors to play different roles in each pain group, including the group that does not develop chronic pain.

Study Overview

Status

Recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Observational

Enrollment (Estimated)

600

Contacts and Locations

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

Study Contact

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Ohio
      • Cincinnati, Ohio, United States, 45211
        • Recruiting
        • Cincinnati Children's Hospital
        • Contact:

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

  • Child
  • Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Sampling Method

Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

The participants in this study will come from several groups at Cincinnati Children's Hospital. These include teens and young adults with long-lasting widespread pain, patients already taking part in chronic muscle and bone pain studies, patients with childhood rheumatic diseases, and patients who have had major muscle or bone surgeries. If we need more participants, we will also recruit from the hospital's rheumatology and pain clinics. We plan to enroll 600 adolescents and young adults, ages 14 to 26, with equal numbers from each of the three study groups.

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Diagnosis of rheumatic/autoimmune disease/pain condition or surgery prior to age 18; Current age 14 to 26 years; Participant (and parent/legal guardian of participants < 18 yo) can read and write in English; At least 1 year from diagnosis of pain or rheumatic disease; For individuals with MSK surgical history, at least 1 year after initial surgical intervention; For individuals with rheumatic disease, their disease must be considered inactive

Exclusion Criteria:

  • They have active disease, or Other major medical comorbidities have developed after surgery following MSK surgical intervention.

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

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort
Intervention / Treatment
Primary musculoskeletal pain disorders
localized or widespread MSK pain
Other: Not applicable- observational study
This is an observational study. No intervention is present.
Inflammatory/autoimmune rheumatic diseases
juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) and childhood-onset systemic lupus erythematosus (cSLE)
Other: Not applicable- observational study
This is an observational study. No intervention is present.
Major MSK surgeries
scoliosis and pectus excavatum repair
Other: Not applicable- observational study
This is an observational study. No intervention is present.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Conditioned Pain Modulation (CPM) Profile (Pressure)
Time Frame: Baseline
CPM is defined by the change in pressure thresholds (increase) before and during cold immersion. Pressure thresholds will be measured using an algometer.
Baseline
Conditioned Pain Modulation (CPM) Profile (Heat)
Time Frame: Baseline
CPM is defined by the change in heat pain intensity (decrease) before and during cold immersion. Heat stimuli will be delivered by a thermode and pain intensity measured by participant self report on the visual analog scale.
Baseline
Temporal Summation (TS) Profile
Time Frame: Baseline
TS is defined by the change in mechanical pain intensity (increase) after exposure to a series of pinprick stimuli. Pain intensity will be measured by participant self report on the visual analog scale.
Baseline

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati

Collaborators

National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS)

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 (Estimated)

August 1, 2026

Primary Completion (Estimated)

August 1, 2029

Study Completion (Estimated)

August 1, 2029

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

May 16, 2026

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 16, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

May 22, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

May 22, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 16, 2026

Last Verified

May 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • BRIDGE Pain
  • 1UC2AR086503 (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

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.

Clinical Trials on Musculoskeletal Pain

Clinical Trials on Not applicable- observational study

Search Similar Trials

Sponsors and Collaborators

Medical Conditions

Drug Interventions

CROs by country

CROs in Mexico

Conditions

Rare Diseases

Drug Interventions

Dietary Supplements

Sponsor/Collaborators

Locations

Subscribe