SAGE (safer analgesia): a protocol for a pragmatic cluster randomised controlled trial to reduce the use of high-risk medicines in people with chronic back and/or neck pain

Introduction: Chronic back and neck pain are commonly treated with opioid analgesics, gabapentinoids and benzodiazepines, despite their high-risk profile and potential limited efficacy. Deprescribing interventions (aimed at medicine reduction or cessation) have shown some effectiveness in reducing the use of these medications, but similar approaches tailored to individuals with complex chronic back and/or neck pain are lacking and urgently needed. This trial will evaluate the effect of the safer analgesia (SAGE) intervention (training of general practitioners (GPs) in deprescribing and support to deprescribe) on cessation and/or reduction of the target high-risk medicine (a benzodiazepine, gabapentinoid or opioid) for people with chronic back and/or neck pain. Methods and analysis: SAGE is a pragmatic cluster randomised trial that will be conducted with at least 30 general practices in Australia randomly assigned in a 1:1 ratio to the SAGE intervention or no intervention (usual care control group). The SAGE intervention is a GP-facing intervention comprising (i) training for GPs in deprescribing and access to deprescribing resources and (ii) deprescribing support—to assist the deprescribing process for their patients, GPs can conduct a long GP consultation (20–40-min duration), refer to trained physiotherapists for the provision of psychologically informed physiotherapy sessions and provide alternate pain management options including heat wrap and diclofenac gel. A total of 320 adult patient-participants experiencing chronic back and/or neck pain (≥ 3 months duration) prescribed a target high-risk medicine (benzodiazepine, gabapentinoid or opioid) persistently for this pain will be recruited via participating general practices. The primary outcome is cessation of dispensation of the trial participant’s high-risk medicine (a benzodiazepine, gabapentinoid or opioid) prescribed by their trial GP. The primary time-point for the primary outcome will be 1-year post-enrolment with an observation window of the preceding 4 weeks. Secondary outcomes include self-reported outcomes such as pain, quality of life and adverse events. Analyses will follow an intention-to-treat approach with a nested economic evaluation and per-protocol analysis planned separately. Ethics and dissemination: The study received approval from the University of Sydney Human Research Ethics Committee (2024/HE001706). The results will be disseminated via publication in a peer-reviewed scientific journal, presentation at conferences and media. Trial registration number: ANZCTR: ACTRN12625000953437.