Standardising the Collection of Socio-Demographic Data in Pain Research: Introducing consensus recommendations for a minimum dataset

The 'ISSHOOs (Identifying Social factors that Stratify Health Opportunities and Outcomes) in pain research' project has developed consensus-derived recommendations to address the inadequacy and inconsistency of socio-demographic data collection and reporting in human adult pain research. The recently published recommendations offer a highly useful, globally relevant and adaptable resource that operationalises the collection of a minimum dataset of important equity-relevant information. In this Commentary we provide a brief overview of the ISSHOOs project and the resulting recommendations - comprising Set A: the 'minimum dataset' and Set B: an extended dataset of optional (equity-relevant) items; and we draw attention to a separate 'explanation and elaboration' manuscript. We discuss the implications of routine adoption of the ISSHOOs recommendations, including limitations, implementation considerations, and the potential for both benefits and harms to be associated with their use. The overarching goal of the ISSHOOs Collaboration is to prompt a small but widespread shift in research practice that promotes research transparency, integrity and value and advances health equity for people with pain.