The Role of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy in Opioid Use Reduction in Pediatric Sickle Cell Disease: Protocol for a Systematic Review

Background Sickle cell disease (SCD) is a genetic disorder of red blood cells that results in acute and chronic health problems, including painful syndromes. Opioid analgesia is the mainstay of moderate to severe pain management in SCD, although adjunctive psychosocial approaches such as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) are increasingly incorporated. CBT has been used in populations of various ages to address a wide range of issues, such as mood disorders and chronic pain. It is unclear if effective CBT reduces the use of opioids to manage pain in pediatric SCD. Objective The aim of this study is to evaluate the association between CBT and decreased opioid use in children with SCD. Methods In this systematic review protocol, we describe our approach to applying predetermined eligibility criteria to searches of PubMed (including Medline), Embase, Cochrane, Web of Science, and PsycINFO databases, as well as Google Scholar and grey literature. In particular, we will use keywords to search for English-language studies of individuals with SCD aged 21 years old and younger published before November 2018. Keywords will allow us to assess for the primary outcome—total use of opioid medications—and the secondary outcomes—pain intensity and emotional functioning—during pain management using a combined opioid and CBT approach, opioids alone, or CBT alone. The review team will use standardized abstraction forms to review articles at the title, abstract, and full-text levels. Finally, reviewers will assess the risk for bias, quality of evidence, and adequacy of data for quantitative versus qualitative synthesis. If meta-analysis is deemed inappropriate, a narrative review will be conducted. Results We will report a summary of findings across studies that meet eligibility criteria to compare the extent to which adjunctive CBT is associated with decreased opioid use among children with SCD. Conclusions This systematic review will present the current state of the evidence on CBT and opioid use in pediatric SCD, which may inform clinical practice and health policy to support optimized pain management. International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID) PRR1-10.2196/13211