Development of a screening tool predicting the transition from acute to chronic low back pain for patients in a GP setting: Protocol of a multinational prospective cohort study

Background. Low back pain (LBP) is by far the most prevalent and costly musculoskeletal problem in our society today. Following the recommendations of the Multinational Musculoskeletal Inception Cohort Study (MMICS) Statement, our study aims to define outcome assessment tools for patients with acute...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Melloh, Markus, Aebli, N., Elfering, A., Röder, C., Zweig, T., Barz, T., Herbison, P., Hendrick, P., Bajracharya, S., Stout, K., Theis, J.
Format: Journal Article
Published: Biomed Central Ltd 2008
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/8255
_version_ 1848745601497300992
author Melloh, Markus
Aebli, N.
Elfering, A.
Röder, C.
Zweig, T.
Barz, T.
Herbison, P.
Hendrick, P.
Bajracharya, S.
Stout, K.
Theis, J.
author_facet Melloh, Markus
Aebli, N.
Elfering, A.
Röder, C.
Zweig, T.
Barz, T.
Herbison, P.
Hendrick, P.
Bajracharya, S.
Stout, K.
Theis, J.
author_sort Melloh, Markus
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Background. Low back pain (LBP) is by far the most prevalent and costly musculoskeletal problem in our society today. Following the recommendations of the Multinational Musculoskeletal Inception Cohort Study (MMICS) Statement, our study aims to define outcome assessment tools for patients with acute LBP and the time point at which chronic LBP becomes manifest and to identify patient characteristics which increase the risk of chronicity. Methods. Patients with acute LBP will be recruited from clinics of general practitioners (GPs) in New Zealand (NZ) and Switzerland (CH). They will be assessed by postal survey at baseline and at 3, 6, 12 weeks and 6 months follow-up. Primary outcome will be disability as measured by the Oswestry Disability Index (ODI); key secondary endpoints will be general health as measured by the acute SF-12 and pain as measured on the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS). A subgroup analysis of different assessment instruments and baseline characteristics will be performed using multiple linear regression models. This study aims to examine. 1. Which biomedical, psychological, social, and occupational outcome assessment tools are identifiers for the transition from acute to chronic LBP and at which time point this transition becomes manifest. 2. Which psychosocial and occupational baseline characteristics like work status and period of work absenteeism influence the course from acute to chronic LBP. 3. Differences in outcome assessment tools and baseline characteristics of patients in NZ compared with CH. Discussion. This study will develop a screening tool for patients with acute LBP to be used in GP clinics to access the risk of developing chronic LBP. In addition, biomedical, psychological, social, and occupational patient characteristics which influence the course from acute to chronic LBP will be identified. Furthermore, an appropriate time point for follow-ups will be given to detect this transition. The generalizability of our findings will be enhanced by the international perspective of this study. Trial registration. [Clinical Trial Registration Number, ACTRN12608000520336]. © 2008 Melloh et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.
first_indexed 2025-11-14T06:19:57Z
format Journal Article
id curtin-20.500.11937-8255
institution Curtin University Malaysia
institution_category Local University
last_indexed 2025-11-14T06:19:57Z
publishDate 2008
publisher Biomed Central Ltd
recordtype eprints
repository_type Digital Repository
spelling curtin-20.500.11937-82552017-09-13T14:33:47Z Development of a screening tool predicting the transition from acute to chronic low back pain for patients in a GP setting: Protocol of a multinational prospective cohort study Melloh, Markus Aebli, N. Elfering, A. Röder, C. Zweig, T. Barz, T. Herbison, P. Hendrick, P. Bajracharya, S. Stout, K. Theis, J. Background. Low back pain (LBP) is by far the most prevalent and costly musculoskeletal problem in our society today. Following the recommendations of the Multinational Musculoskeletal Inception Cohort Study (MMICS) Statement, our study aims to define outcome assessment tools for patients with acute LBP and the time point at which chronic LBP becomes manifest and to identify patient characteristics which increase the risk of chronicity. Methods. Patients with acute LBP will be recruited from clinics of general practitioners (GPs) in New Zealand (NZ) and Switzerland (CH). They will be assessed by postal survey at baseline and at 3, 6, 12 weeks and 6 months follow-up. Primary outcome will be disability as measured by the Oswestry Disability Index (ODI); key secondary endpoints will be general health as measured by the acute SF-12 and pain as measured on the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS). A subgroup analysis of different assessment instruments and baseline characteristics will be performed using multiple linear regression models. This study aims to examine. 1. Which biomedical, psychological, social, and occupational outcome assessment tools are identifiers for the transition from acute to chronic LBP and at which time point this transition becomes manifest. 2. Which psychosocial and occupational baseline characteristics like work status and period of work absenteeism influence the course from acute to chronic LBP. 3. Differences in outcome assessment tools and baseline characteristics of patients in NZ compared with CH. Discussion. This study will develop a screening tool for patients with acute LBP to be used in GP clinics to access the risk of developing chronic LBP. In addition, biomedical, psychological, social, and occupational patient characteristics which influence the course from acute to chronic LBP will be identified. Furthermore, an appropriate time point for follow-ups will be given to detect this transition. The generalizability of our findings will be enhanced by the international perspective of this study. Trial registration. [Clinical Trial Registration Number, ACTRN12608000520336]. © 2008 Melloh et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2008 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/8255 10.1186/1471-2474-9-167 Biomed Central Ltd unknown
spellingShingle Melloh, Markus
Aebli, N.
Elfering, A.
Röder, C.
Zweig, T.
Barz, T.
Herbison, P.
Hendrick, P.
Bajracharya, S.
Stout, K.
Theis, J.
Development of a screening tool predicting the transition from acute to chronic low back pain for patients in a GP setting: Protocol of a multinational prospective cohort study
title Development of a screening tool predicting the transition from acute to chronic low back pain for patients in a GP setting: Protocol of a multinational prospective cohort study
title_full Development of a screening tool predicting the transition from acute to chronic low back pain for patients in a GP setting: Protocol of a multinational prospective cohort study
title_fullStr Development of a screening tool predicting the transition from acute to chronic low back pain for patients in a GP setting: Protocol of a multinational prospective cohort study
title_full_unstemmed Development of a screening tool predicting the transition from acute to chronic low back pain for patients in a GP setting: Protocol of a multinational prospective cohort study
title_short Development of a screening tool predicting the transition from acute to chronic low back pain for patients in a GP setting: Protocol of a multinational prospective cohort study
title_sort development of a screening tool predicting the transition from acute to chronic low back pain for patients in a gp setting: protocol of a multinational prospective cohort study
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/8255