AppliedVR, an immersive therapeutics (ITx) pioneer advancing a novel, virtual reality-based approach to medicine, has officially published results from a secondary analysis of a large randomized controlled trial (RCT), which evaluated the efficiency of virtual reality treatment against chronic back pain. In particular, the researchers focused on gauging whether socio-demographic factors affected the clinical effectiveness of receiving a virtual reality (VR) therapy that treats chronic low back pain (cLBP) at home. Published in Journal of Medical Extended Reality, the results went on to reveal how AppliedVR’s FDA-authorized RelieVRx device produced clinically effective results that were largely invariant across age (over vs. under 65), gender (male vs. female), race/ethnicity (Black vs. White vs. Other) and socioeconomic (education and income) subgroups. Furthermore, the study discovered that therapeutic program engagement was largely consistent across all socio-demographic categories and was influenced only by age where older adults (65+) actually showed greater engagement than younger adults. On top of that, the researchers also saw RelieVRx’s usability ratings being consistently high (A+) and mostly invariant across subgroups except for some slight differences among race/ethnicity. The findings in question deliver a rather interesting follow-up to an analysis which was recently published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings: Digital Health. This analysis discovered that the RelieVRx program produced meaningful reductions in pain intensity and pain interference across clinically severe and diverse adults with cLBP.
Next up, the older study would find that participants who completed the RelieVRx program achieved an average reduction in pain intensity of 2.0 points on a pain numerical rating scale, which asks people to rate their pain on a scale from zero to 10. Likewise, participants who completed the RelieVRx program reported an average reduction of 2.3 points in pain interference. Although different, both studies were based on data from the largest RCT of its kind with a demographically diverse sample, including data from more than 1,000 participants.
“Finding clinical effectiveness, therapeutic program engagement and usability to be generally consistent across socio-demographics is extremely notable because it mitigates questions surrounding how underrepresented populations may benefit from the RelieVRx program,” said Dr. Beth Darnall, Chief Science Advisor at AppliedVR. “Pain care is notoriously hard to access, with some areas having no pain specialist available at all to serve patients. This study both underscores the importance of addressing healthcare disparities and should compel the industry to advocate and invest in more scalable and equitable pain care approaches.”
Another thing this research follows up on is all the traction and adoption which AppliedVR’s flagship device, RelieVRx has observed over the past year. You see, not long ago, the device received a unique code and final pricing determination from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Then, it was added to the Department of Veterans Affairs’ Federal Supply Schedule (FSS), Defense Logistics Agency’s Electronic Catalogue for Medical Supply Chain (ECAT), and the Department of Defense’s Distribution and Pricing Agreement (DAPA), allowing government customers to make streamlined purchases of the same. In case that didn’t sound like enough, it might be our while to also mention how AppliedVR also recently received an expanded contract from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, extending access to the RelieVRx program as a covered treatment to more veterans across the VA.
As for the significance attached to such a development, it can be understood once you consider that chronic pain alone costs the U.S. an estimated $635 billion each year and is a major contributing factor driving America’s opioid crisis. Currently, the data suggests that more than 72 million Americans suffer from chronic low back pain, with the condition being a leading cause of disability.