IDEAL - BACKPACS

• Research type

  Research Study

• Full title

  Improving the Diagnosis and Early referral of patients with AxiaL spondyloarthiritis- BACK Pain referral pAthway from Community to Specialist care (IDEAL-BACKPACS)

• IRAS ID

  339400

• Contact name

  Jonathan Packham

• Contact email

  jon.packham@mpft.nhs.uk

• Sponsor organisation

  University of Nottingham

• Duration of Study in the UK

  2 years, 3 months, 31 days

• Research summary

  Background
  Axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA) is an inflammatory condition affecting 270,000 people in the UK, causing pain, stiffness and damage to the spine, pelvis and joint. Symptoms, including back pain, start in early adulthood and progress with time. Currently it takes 5-8 years to get a diagnosis. Back pain is a common symptom and the minority have axSpA, so it is difficult for GPs to tell if back pain is due to inflammation. Effective treatments are available but delayed diagnosis leads to less benefit and worse health problems.

  Aim
  To help General Practice Clinicians (GPCs) identify patients with inflammatory back pain faster to enable early diagnosis and timely access to treatment. We will design a new tool, to be integrated into GP computer systems, to help the GPCs decide if a patient needs to be referred to a specialist, and the impact of this on the patients’ wellbeing and delays in diagnosis.

  Method
  GPCs will recruit at least 720 adults aged 16-50 with longstanding back pain. These patients will attend a research clinic, where they’ll complete questionnaires, have clinical examinations, blood tests, x-rays and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scans. We will determine which signs, symptoms and tests pick out those most likely to have axSpA, as diagnosed by a specialist. We will then use between 3 to 5 of these factors to create a new referral tool. The effectiveness of the new referral tool will be tested in a randomised controlled trial (not covered in this ethics application).
  

• REC name

  Yorkshire & The Humber - Sheffield Research Ethics Committee

• REC reference

  24/YH/0188

• Date of REC Opinion

  11 Sep 2024

• REC opinion

  Favourable Opinion