A patient-specific approach for measuring functional status in low back pain.
BACKGROUND
Activities and their importance for daily living vary widely between patients. Patient-specific measurement of functional status means that the evaluation is focused on activities that an individual patient selected as main complaints.


OBJECTIVE
To develop and to evaluate a patient-specific approach for measuring functional status in low back pain.


METHODS
A cohort of 150 patients was measured at baseline and 12 weeks later.


METHODS
The feasibility of the patient-specific approach was evaluated in patients with nonspecific low back pain. We used effect size statistics to evaluate responsiveness in terms of sensitivity to change and specificity to change.


RESULTS
The selection procedure for the main complaint was feasible but labor intensive. The patient-specific approach was able to detect changes in complaints that were highly relevant for the patients. The patient-specific approach appeared to be more sensitive to change but less specific to change compared with other instruments.


CONCLUSIONS
On the basis of this study it would be valuable to apply the patient-specific approach in future studies, also with the aim of further evaluation. In the meantime a number of practical problems of the method need to be resolved.
Beurskens
A J
AJ
Department of Epidemiology, Maastricht University, The Netherlands.
de Vet
H C
HC
Köke
A J
AJ
Lindeman
E
E
van der Heijden
G J
GJ
Regtop
W
W
Knipschild
P G
PG
D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000328:Adult; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D017116:Low Back Pain / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008297:Male; D010147:Pain Measurement; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires