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Open DISTRESS Trial Functional Disorders - the DISTRESS Trial (DISTRESS), Regionshospitalet Silkeborg, Denmark

Discussion in 'Recruitment into current ME/CFS research studies' started by Andy, Nov 9, 2023.

  1. Andy

    Andy Committee Member

    Messages:
    22,305
    Location:
    Hampshire, UK
    Study Overview

    Brief Summary

    A Diagnostic Clinic for Functional Somatic Disorders (FSD) has been set up at the outpatient diagnostic center at Regionshospitalet Silkeborg. The objective of the clinic is to support General Practitioners (GPs) by offering early stage diagnostic evaluation of whether a patient has an FSD or the symptoms were caused by another physical illness or mental disorder.

    As a novelty in this project, Internal Medicine consultants examine the patients for FSD, after having received training in diagnosing FSD by FSD experts. By performing diagnostic evaluation for physical diseases and FSD simultaneously, the investigators believe that the new clinic shall be able to accelerate the establishment of a final diagnosis for these patients who would otherwise likely undergo a protracted diagnostic course involving sequential evaluations at various specialty clinics.

    The DISTRESS trial is a pragmatic randomized clinical trial which aims to evaluate the Diagnostic Clinic for FSD in terms of clinical cost-effectiveness outcomes.

    https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT06025617
     
    Andy, Nov 9, 2023
    #1
    Hutan, Peter Trewhitt and Trish like this.
  2. Obermann

    Obermann Senior Member (Voting Rights)

    Messages:
    125
    Location:
    Stockholm
    Thanks for posting this study overview. Regionshospitalet Silkeborg is located in Denmark.
     
    Obermann, Nov 9, 2023
    #2
    Hutan, alktipping, Peter Trewhitt and 1 other person like this.
  3. Andy

    Andy Committee Member

    Messages:
    22,305
    Location:
    Hampshire, UK
    Thanks, don't know why I put Sweden. I'll change it.
     
    Andy, Nov 9, 2023
    #3
    alktipping, Obermann and Peter Trewhitt like this.
  4. Hutan

    Hutan Moderator Staff Member

    Messages:
    27,828
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    Aotearoa New Zealand
    What a nightmare. You want to be screened properly for physical causes of your symptoms, but to do so you have to go to a clinic where there is a high chance you will get a Functional Somatic Disorder slapped on you if nothing obvious is found. The DISTRESS trial indeed.
     
    Hutan, Nov 10, 2023
    #4
    rvallee, SNT Gatchaman, shak8 and 5 others like this.
  5. Sean

    Sean Moderator Staff Member

    Messages:
    7,490
    Location:
    Australia
    Superficially this is a reasonable approach. But will happen is that the failure to find a known physical cause will give licence to the functional interpretation to run free.

    It is a very effective political tactic.

    How robust are the physical assessments going to be? Will it be a panel of clinicians, or just one? Will they use more than just a simple checklist of basic possibilities? How exhaustive will it be?

    What is the safety mechanism for an incorrect functional diagnosis? What will trigger a reassessment?

    Will this study be keeping good long term records of the outcomes, particularly the consequences of failures to catch physical diseases?
     
    Sean, Nov 11, 2023
    #5
    rvallee, RedFox, Peter Trewhitt and 4 others like this.

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