title: Change in Health-Related Quality-of-Life at Group and Individual Levels Over Time in Patients Treated for Chronic Myofascial Neck Pain.
abstract: This study evaluated change in health-related quality of life at the group and individual levels in a consecutive series of patients with chronic myofascial neck pain.
  
  
  
  Fifty patients with chronic neck pain self-administered the Short Form-36 Version 2 (SF-36 v2) before treatment and 6 weeks later. Internal consistency reliability was estimated for the 8 scale scores and Mosier's formula was used to estimate reliability of the physical and mental health composite scores. Significance of group-level change was estimated using within-group t statistics. Significance of individual change was evaluated by reliable change index.
  
  
  
  Statistically significant ( P < .05) group mean improvement over time was found for all SF-36 scores. At the individual level, 20% of the possible changes were statistically significant (17% improvement, 3% decline).
  
  
  
  Estimating the significance of individual change in health-related quality of life adds important information in comparing different treatment modalities for chronic myofascial neck pain.
authors.affiliation: 1 Stamford Hospital, Stamford, CT, USA.
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Brodsky
authors.affiliation: 2 University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Karen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Spritzer
authors.affiliation: 2 University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Ron D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Hays
authors.affiliation: 2 University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Ka-Kit
authors.initials: KK
authors.lastname: Hui
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D059350:Chronic Pain / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009209:Myofascial Pain Syndromes / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy; D019547:Neck Pain / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy; D011788:Quality of Life
keywords: health-related quality of life; myofascial neck pain