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Baseline characteristics of Veterans from improving Veteran access to integrated management of back pain (AIM-Back) - an embedded pragmatic, cluster-randomized trial in the United States.

Publication ,  Journal Article
George, SZ; France, C; Coffman, CJ; Allen, KD; Lentz, TA; North, R; Choate, A; Goode, AP; Simon, CB; Grubber, JM; King, H; Cook, CE ...
Published in: Pain Manag
April 7, 2026

OBJECTIVE: Describe baseline characteristics and representativeness of AIM-Back trial participants relative to Veterans with low back pain at participating clinics. METHODS: Veterans were referred to AIM-Back randomized care pathways and included 1) enrolled participants with data collected in the Electronic Health Record (EHR) by clinical staff with no consent required and 2) survey participants who provided informed consent with data collected via surveys by research staff. Descriptive statistics were reported. Participation to prevalence ratios (PPRs) were calculated for sex, age, race, and ethnicity by clinic to describe representativeness. RESULTS: Across 17 primary care clinics, the Referral cohort included 2767 unique Veterans with n = 1817 enrolled (attended initial evaluation visit), n = 996 were survey participants; n = 799 of enrolled participants (44%) were also survey participants. More than 59% of Veterans of enrolled and survey participants had High Impact Chronic Pain and approximately 10% of enrolled participants had documented opioid use in the preceding year. Older Veterans (≥65 years) were underrepresented in the Referral cohort compared to those with LBP visits at clinics (PPRs < 0.8). CONCLUSIONS: These findings provide detailed insights for participants that will be included in future analyses of care pathway effectiveness. TRIAL REGISTRATION: NCT04411420.

Duke Scholars

Published In

Pain Manag

DOI

EISSN

1758-1877

Publication Date

April 7, 2026

Start / End Page

1 / 9

Location

England

Related Subject Headings

  • 3202 Clinical sciences
 

Citation

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George, S. Z., France, C., Coffman, C. J., Allen, K. D., Lentz, T. A., North, R., … Hastings, S. N. (2026). Baseline characteristics of Veterans from improving Veteran access to integrated management of back pain (AIM-Back) - an embedded pragmatic, cluster-randomized trial in the United States. Pain Manag, 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1080/17581869.2026.2652307
George, Steven Z., Courtni France, Cynthia J. Coffman, Kelli D. Allen, Trevor A. Lentz, Rebecca North, Ashley Choate, et al. “Baseline characteristics of Veterans from improving Veteran access to integrated management of back pain (AIM-Back) - an embedded pragmatic, cluster-randomized trial in the United States.Pain Manag, April 7, 2026, 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1080/17581869.2026.2652307.
George SZ, France C, Coffman CJ, Allen KD, Lentz TA, North R, Choate A, Goode AP, Simon CB, Grubber JM, King H, Cook CE, Keefe FJ, Ballengee LA, Naylor J, Brothers JL, Stanwyck C, Linton T, Tumminello C, Hastings SN. Baseline characteristics of Veterans from improving Veteran access to integrated management of back pain (AIM-Back) - an embedded pragmatic, cluster-randomized trial in the United States. Pain Manag. 2026 Apr 7;1–9.
Journal cover image

Published In

Pain Manag

DOI

EISSN

1758-1877

Publication Date

April 7, 2026

Start / End Page

1 / 9

Location

England

Related Subject Headings

  • 3202 Clinical sciences