Placebo Impacts Sleep and Pain Modulation in Chronic Pain

Recruiting now · Not applicable · Has a placebo group

Conditions studied: Chronic Pain, Headache

In brief

The goal of this free-choice parallel design clinical trial is to examine the potential beneficial effects of using open-label placebo (OLP) in improving chronic pain related outcomes and sleep quality in people with temporomandibular disorders. This study will enroll a cohort of participants with temporomandibular disorders (TMD) which lasts for more than 3 months. The main questions it aims to answer are: 1. Will participants with TMD be more likely to take open-label placebo pills if they are introduced to the effects of placebo (e.g., going through an expectation management session)? 2. Will taking open-label placebo plus expectation management improve chronic pain related outcomes, such as chronic pain intensity, interference, levels of anxiety and depression, in the cohort of TMD? 3. Will open-label placebo plus expectation management improve sleep quality in participants suffering from TMD? To answer the above questions, participants with TMD will be randomly assigned to three groups: 1. Open-label placebo plus expectation management group, where participants will complete a 1-hour discussion session about their expectations toward open-lable placebo intervention, and then take 1 open-labe placebo pill per day for a total of 45 days. 2. Open-label placebo only group where participants will be asked to take open-label placebo pills, one pill per day, for a total of 45 days. 3. standard of care group where participants will maintain their usual care without introducing open-label placebo to them during the 45 days monitoring. Researchers will compare the chronic pain intensity, interference, mood, anxiety, and sleep quality between the open-label placebo group and the wait-list group. Daily chronic pain will be measured using visual analog scale (VAS) ranging from 0=no pain at all to 100=maximum tolerable pain. Chronic pain interference using Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) pain interference and pain behavior. Anxiety and depression will be measured using PROMIS-anxiety, and PROMIS-depression scales respectively. Finally, sleep quality will be quantified using the objective measurement Motion Watch during the 45 days intervention and monitoring. In order to have a rigorous measurement of the baseline pain and sleep fluctuation, this study will include a 7-day phenotyping period before the starting of the 45-day intervention and monitoring. During the 7-day phenotyping period, participants will record their daily chronic pain and sleep quality using polysomnography.

Key facts

Study ID

NCT06225817

Run by

University of Maryland, Baltimore

People needed

111

Starts

2025-04-21

Expected to finish

2028-07-30

Last updated by the study team

2026-06-17

Who can join

Age: 18 and older, up to 88. Sex: any. Healthy volunteers: not accepted.

You may qualify if…

• Age ( 18-88 years old)
• English speaker (written and spoken)
• TMD for at least 3 months
• Grade Chronic Pain Scale (GCPS) ≥1
• Smartphone/text messaging capability

You may not qualify if…

• Present or past degenerative neuromuscular disease
• Cardiovascular, neurological diseases, pulmonary abnormalities, kidney disease, liver disease, history of cancer within past 3 years
• Any personal (or family first degree) history of mania, schizophrenia, or other psychoses
• Severe psychiatric condition (e.g. schizophrenia, bipolar disorders, autism) leading to hospitalization within the last 3 years.
• Lifetime alcohol/drug dependence or alcohol/drug abuse in past 3 months
• Pregnancy or breast feeding
• Impaired or uncorrected hearing

Where it is running

• University of Maryland Baltimore School of Nursing — Baltimore, Maryland, United States (enrolling)

Full record on ClinicalTrials.gov

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