Intranasal oxytocin as a treatment for chronic pelvic pain: A randomized controlled feasibility study

What Was Tested

This randomized controlled trial paper looks at Oxytocin in the context of chronic pain: fibromyalgia & crps.

To investigate the effect of intranasal oxytocin on chronic pelvic pain in a randomized, double-blind, within-subject crossover trial.

Aims included: (1) determine intranasal oxytocin's effect on pain intensity and pain interference relative to placebo; (2) assess feasibility and acceptability.

Who Took Part

By PubMed's age tags, the people studied were adults, women only.

Women with chronic pelvic pain were recruited from chronic pain and gynecology clinics between September 2017 and December 2018.

How the Study Was Run

The researchers set it up as a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled and crossover study.

The participants were allocated by chance, so the Oxytocin group and the comparison group should start out alike.

Neither the participants nor the staff measuring them knew who was on Oxytocin, so expectations could not easily colour the readings.

A placebo (an inactive look-alike) gave the Oxytocin group a baseline to be compared against.

Each person switched between Oxytocin and the comparison at some point, usually with a gap in between.

Pain was recorded at pre-trial screening, and while administering intranasal oxytocin and placebo.

Pain and pain-related interference were measured using the Brief Pain Inventory - Short Form.

Feasibility and acceptability were measured using validated measures and interviews.

What Was Measured

PubMed files the paper under topics including Feasibility Studies, Oxytocin, Pain Measurement, Pelvic Pain and Surveys and Questionnaires.

The authors tagged it with the keywords Chronic pain, Chronic pelvic pain, Randomized clinical trial and Randomized controlled trial.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study of Oxytocin in people with chronic pain: fibromyalgia & crps.

Results are reported in around 5 sentences of the abstract; we leave them to the paper itself rather than summarise them.

The publication is from 2021 (International journal of gynaecology and obstetrics: the official organ of the International Federation of Gynaecology and Obstetrics), a journal based in United States.

More context: the Oxytocin compound page, Chronic pain: fibromyalgia & CRPS research.