MUSC Approved for $2.6 million by Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute
February 25, 2015
Researchers to tackle lower back pain affecting millions of Americans
CHARLESTON, SC – A research team at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC)’s College of Health Professions has been approved for a $2.6 million funding award by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) to study interventions for chronic lower back pain.
David Morrisette, Ph.D., College of Health Professions professor and Physical Therapy program director, will serve as the lead principal investigator (PI) for the MUSC site, with support from co-PI Kit Simpson, Dr.PH., Health Care Leadership and Management and Public Health professor, and Howard Evert, M.D., MUSC Internal Medicine study co-investigator and Carolina Family Care president. The national, multi-site $14 million study will be led by Antony Delitto, Ph.D., vice president of education and research for the Centers for Rehab Services, associate dean for research in the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences and Physical Therapy professor at the University of Pittsburgh.
MUSC research will focus on targeted interventions to prevent chronic lower back pain in high risk patients. According to The American Academy of Pain Medicine, more than 100 million Americans suffer from some sort of chronic pain, and lower back pain is the leading cause of disability in Americans under 45 years old. More than 26 million Americans between the ages of 20-64 experience frequent back pain.
“Lower back pain is the leading cause of activity limitation and work absence across most of the world. Patients and families struggle with the effects of back pain on their quality of life and it is one of the most costly problems to society ($100 to $200 billion annually in the US). Little progress has been made in clinical practice to provide effective prevention of chronic back pain or in identifying evidence for treatments that reduce this cost,” Morrisette said. “This pragmatic trial will test a new interdisciplinary approach used in primary care settings and we hope to demonstrate that it offers a way to prevent many acute lower back problems from becoming chronic.”
Morrisette’ s five-year study is one of five awards totaling $64.1 million approved by PCORI on Tuesday, Feb. 24, that aim to provide patients with information that will help them make better-informed decisions about their care. It is also one of the first studies selected for funding through PCORI’s Pragmatic Clinical Studies Initiative, an effort to produce results that are broadly applicable to a greater variety of patients and care situations and can be more quickly taken up in routine clinical practice.
Many clinical studies test whether a treatment works under optimized conditions in specialized research centers, but health care is rarely delivered in such idealized situations and settings. Pragmatic clinical studies test a treatment’s effectiveness in “real-life” practice situations, such as typical hospital and outpatient care settings, and also can include a wider range of study participants, which potentially makes their findings more generally applicable.
“This project was selected for PCORI funding not only for its scientific merit and commitment to engaging patients and other health care stakeholders in a major study conducted in real-world settings, but also for its potential to answer an important question about lower back pain and fill a crucial evidence gap,” said PCORI Executive Director Joe Selby, MD, MPH. “We look forward to following the study’s progress and working with MUSC to share its results.”
Morrisette’ s study and the other projects approved for PCORI funding were selected through a highly competitive review process in which patients, caregivers, and other stakeholders joined scientists to evaluate the proposals. Applications were assessed for scientific merit, how well they will engage patients and other stakeholders, and their methodological rigor among other criteria. The award has been approved pending completion of a business and programmatic review by PCORI staff and issuance of a formal award contract.
About MUSC
Founded in 1824 in Charleston, The Medical University of South Carolina is the oldest medical school in the South. Today, MUSC continues the tradition of excellence in education, research, and patient care. MUSC educates and trains more than 3,000 students and residents, and has nearly 13,000 employees, including approximately 1,500 faculty members. As the largest non-federal employer in Charleston, the university and its affiliates have collective annual budgets in excess of $1.7 billion. MUSC operates a 750-bed medical center, which includes a nationally recognized Children’s Hospital, the Ashley River Tower (cardiovascular, digestive disease, and surgical oncology), Hollings Cancer Center (one of 66 National Cancer Institute designated centers) Level I Trauma Center and Institute of Psychiatry. For more information on academic information or clinical services, visit www.musc.edu. For more information on hospital patient services, visit www.muschealth.org.
About PCORI
PCORI is an independent, nonprofit organization authorized by Congress in 2010. Its mission is to fund research that will provide patients, their caregivers, and clinicians with the evidence-based information needed to make better-informed health care decisions. For more information about PCORI’s funding awards, visit the Research and Results page on www.pcori.org.
