Development of a brief questionnaire to predict long-term disability.
OBJECTIVE
To develop a brief worker-completed questionnaire for use soon after a work-related back injury to assess risk of long-term work disability.


METHODS
In this prospective cohort study, 1885 workers provided information about pain, function, psychosocial, and work characteristics about 3 weeks after filing claims for new back injuries. Classification and regression tree analysis was used to identify the best predictive model of work disability status 1 year after claim submission.


RESULTS
Pain interference with ability to work (>5, 0 to 10 scale), not currently working, and radiating leg pain comprised the best model which accurately classified 77% of the workers.


CONCLUSIONS
A brief questionnaire assessing pain interference with work, current work status, and radiating leg pain might be useful in assessing risk of long-term work disability due to back injury.
Fulton-Kehoe
Deborah
D
School of Public Health and Community Medicine, Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98103, USA. debfk@u.washington.edu
Stover
Bert D
BD
Turner
Judith A
JA
Sheppard
Lianne
L
Gluck
Jeremy V
JV
Wickizer
Thomas M
TM
Franklin
Gary M
GM
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002908:Chronic Disease; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D005260:Female; D005544:Forecasting; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D017116:Low Back Pain / Q000503:physiopathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016273:Occupational Exposure; D010147:Pain Measurement; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult