title: Focus article: report of the NIH Task Force on Research Standards for Chronic Low Back Pain.
abstract: Despite rapidly increasing intervention, functional disability due to chronic low back pain (cLBP) has increased in recent decades. We often cannot identify mechanisms to explain the major negative impact cLBP has on patients' lives. Such cLBP is often termed non-specific and may be due to multiple biologic and behavioral etiologies. Researchers use varied inclusion criteria, definitions, baseline assessments, and outcome measures, which impede comparisons and consensus. Therefore, NIH Pain Consortium charged a Research Task Force (RTF) to draft standards for research on cLBP. The resulting multidisciplinary panel recommended using 2 questions to define cLBP; classifying cLBP by its impact (defined by pain intensity, pain interference, and physical function); use of a minimum dataset to describe research participants (drawing heavily on the PROMIS methodology); reporting "responder analyses" in addition to mean outcome scores; and suggestions for future research and dissemination. The Pain Consortium has approved the recommendations, which investigators should incorporate into NIH grant proposals. The RTF believes that these recommendations will advance the field, help to resolve controversies, and facilitate future research addressing the genomic, neurologic, and other mechanistic substrates of chronic low back pain. We expect that the RTF recommendations will become a dynamic document and undergo continual improvement.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A task force was convened by the NIH Pain Consortium with the goal of developing research standards for chronic low back pain. The results included recommendations for definitions, a minimum dataset, reporting outcomes, and future research. Greater consistency in reporting should facilitate comparisons among studies and the development of phenotypes.
authors.affiliation: Oregon Health and Science University, 3181 SW Sam Jackson Park Rd, Mail Code FM, Portland, OR, 97239, USA, deyor@ohsu.edu.
authors.forename: Richard A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Deyo
authors.forename: Samuel F
authors.initials: SF
authors.lastname: Dworkin
authors.forename: Dagmar
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Amtmann
authors.forename: Gunnar
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Andersson
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Borenstein
authors.forename: Eugene
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Carragee
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Carrino
authors.forename: Roger
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Chou
authors.forename: Karon
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Cook
authors.forename: Anthony
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: DeLitto
authors.forename: Christine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Goertz
authors.forename: Partap
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Khalsa
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Loeser
authors.forename: Sean
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mackey
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Panagis
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Rainville
authors.forename: Tor
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tosteson
authors.forename: Dennis
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Turk
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Von Korff
authors.forename: Debra K
authors.initials: DK
authors.lastname: Weiner
mesh_terms: D026683:Advisory Committees; D059350:Chronic Pain / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy; D006801:Humans; D017116:Low Back Pain / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy*; D008297:Male; D010147:Pain Measurement / Q000379:methods*; D012107:Research Design / Q000639:trends*; D014481:United States