Recruiting

Pain Assessment

Sponsor:

National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH)

Code:

NCT02707029

Conditions

Normal Physiology

Pain

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 12 - 70+

Healthy Volunteers: Accepted

Study Details

Brief summary:

Background:

Researchers want to better understand pain by studying people with and without different kinds of pain. To do this, researchers will expose people to pleasant and unpleasant sensations. They will ask them questions about their pain. Researchers also want to see if these people are eligible for other research studies at the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health.

Objectives:

To study the experience of pain. Also to find people eligible to join other NIH studies.

Eligibility:

People 12 years and older with and without pain disorders.

Design:

Participants will be screened by phone.

Participants will have one required visit lasting about 2 hours. This may include:

  • Medical history
  • Physical exam
  • Questionnaires about themselves and their pain experience
  • Blood and urine tests
  • MRI: They will lie on a table that slides into a cylinder. They will feel different sensations while completing tasks on a computer. This lasts 15 minutes to 2 hours.
  • Quantitative sensory testing: They will be exposed to different pictures, sounds, tastes, and smells. They will also be exposed to pleasant and unpleasant sensations. These could include:

  • Burning, itching, or cold sensations
  • Pinpricks
  • Pressure and pinches
  • Electrocardiogram: Stickers on the chest record heart activity.
  • Straps placed around the chest to measure breathing.
  • Small sensors on the fingers or palms to measure pulse and sweating.

Participants may have up to 12 other outpatient study visits.

Participants may be recorded at the visits.

Conditions

Normal Physiology

Pain

Study ID

NCT02707029

Start date

Jul 22, 2016

Status verified date

Oct 7, 2026

Completion date

Feb 9, 2027

Anticipated

Primary completion date

Feb 9, 2027

Anticipated

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 12 - 70+

Healthy Volunteers: Accepted

  • INCLUSION CRITERIA:
  • Are >= 12 years of age

EXCLUSION CRITERIA:

  • Have difficulties with communication that make subjective pain assessment impossible or unreliable.
  • Have acute medical or psychiatric health issues that create additional and substantial adverse risks related to study procedures. Medical examples are the acute complications of medical disease, such as asymptomatic hypertensive urgency, diabetic ketoacidosis, symptomatic hyperthyroidism, and unstable angina. Psychiatric examples are the acute complications of psychiatric disease, such as acute mania, paranoid delusions, or having acute panic attacks.
  • Are participating in other ongoing research protocols such that phenotypic measurements would interfere with the conduct of an ongoing protocols or the receipt of a research treatment would influence the phenotypic measurements.
  • Employees or staff that work at NCCIH.
  • Pregnant women

Study Design

Enrollment

10000 participants

Anticipated

Interventions and Outcome Measures

Arms

Persons, with or without pain disorders

Adults and adolescents with or without pain disorders.

Primary outcome measure

  • To enable for the deep, broad, and targeted phenotyping of individuals, in particular those with rare and unusual pain disorders. [ Time Frame: 36 months ]

Central Contacts and Locations

Central contacts

Keyonna L Berry

(301) 594-1782keyonna.berry@nih.gov

Miroslav Backonja, M.D.

(301) 402-5679misha.backonja@nih.gov

Locations

National Institutes of Health Clinical Center

Recruiting

Bethesda, Maryland, United States, 20892

Contacts

For more information at the NIH Clinical Center contact Office of Patient Recruitment (OPR)

800-411-1222ccopr@nih.gov

More Information

Sponsor

National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH)

Last update posted

Oct 13, 2026

Last verified

Oct 7, 2026

Keywords

  • Screening Protocol
  • Pain
  • Phenotypes

Trial information was received from ClinicalTrials.gov and was last updated on 2026-10-25. This information was provided to ClinicalTrials.gov by National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) on 2026-10-13. Recruitment status is synced daily from ClinicalTrials.gov and may not reflect the sponsor's current status. Confirm during your call.