Brief Summary: Persistent Physical Symptoms (PPS), also known as medically unexplained symptoms (MUS) is a term used to describe a range of persistent bodily symptoms for which the exact cause is unclear. Between 20 and 40% of patients in primary care, and about 50% in secondary care experience PPS. Not only are PPS common, but the overlap across different patient groups may indicate that these phenomena are transdiagnostic. PPS are associated with profound disability and high health care costs, and if left untreated the prognosis of these patients is poor. There is an accumulating body of evidence demonstrating that cognitive behavioural interventions can reduce levels of symptoms and improve functioning in patients with PPS. A pragmatic randomised controlled trial (RCT) was designed to evaluate the clinical and cost-effectiveness of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) + Standard Medical Care (SMC) versus Standard Medical Care alone, in the treatment of patients with PPS. The trial will focus on patients with a variety of symptoms (e.g., non-cardiac chest pain, fibromyalgia), across secondary care clinics (e.g., neurology, cardiology, and rheumatology).
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Work and social adjustment scale
Timeframe: 52 weeks post randomisation