This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
Clinical decision rule created to stratify low back pain patients for chronic pain
Researchers developed a clinical decision rule to help primary care physicians classify patients with acute low back pain into a low-, moderate- or high-risk group for developing chronic pain, according to the results in a recently published study.
Researchers conducted a 2-year prospective cohort study of risk factors for the progression to chronic pain for patients with low back pain. The study included 600 patients who were surveyed at baseline, 6 months and 2 years. Researchers also calculated the bootstrapped areas under the receiver-operating characteristic curve (AUC).
About 19% of patients developed chronic pain at 2 years, according to study data. Researchers found the bootstrapped AUC was 0.76 (95% CI, 0.70-0.82) for the 6-month clinical decision rule.
For each 10 points a patient increased on the scale, the odds ratio for developing chronic pain was 11.1.
Researchers developed a clinical decision rule to classify patients in low, moderate or high-risk groups for developing chronic back pain. The clinical decision rule performed acceptably in 1,000 bootstrapped replications.
Disclosure: Mehling reports receiving grant NIH/NCCAM (Nos. K23 AT002298 and R21 AT004467, G, Paid directly to institution), REAC/UCSF (C, Paid directly to institution), Mount Zion Health Fund (E, Paid directly to institution); Research Support (Investigator Salary, Staff/Materials): UCSF Osher Center Grants (A, Paid directly to institution); Grants: NIH/NCCAM (F, Paid directly to institution), Mount Zion Health Fund (E, Paid directly to institution). Please see the full study for a list of all other authors’ relevant financial disclosures.