Absolute MCID was strongly associated with baseline pain , explaining approximately two-thirds of the variation , and to a lesser degree with the operational definition of minimum pain relief and clinical condition .
MCID  for chronic pain relief vary considerably .
Baseline pain is strongly associated with absolute , but not relative , measures .
To a much lesser degree , MCID is also influenced by the operational definition of relevant pain relief and possibly by clinical condition .
BACKGROUND The minimum clinical ly important difference ( MCID ) is used to interpret the relevance of treatment effects , e.g. , when developing clinical guidelines , evaluating trial results or planning sample sizes .
There is currently no agreement on an appropriate MCID in chronic pain and little is known about which context ual factors cause variation .
METHODS This is a systematic review .
Choice of external criteria in back pain research: Does it matter? Recommendations based on analysis of responsiveness
Abstract Underst and ing a change score is indispensable for interpretation of results from clinical studies . One way of determining the relevance of change scores is through the use of transition questions that assesses patients ’ retrospective perception of treatment effect . Unfortunately , results from studies using transition questions are difficult to compare since wording of questions and definitions of important improvements vary between studies . The objectives of this study were to determine the consequence of using different transition questions on pain and disability measures and make proposals for a st and ardised use of such questions . Two hundred and thirty‐three patients with low back pain and /or leg pain were recruited . Participants were followed over an 8‐week period and r and omised to two groups receiving a 7‐ ( TQ1 ) and 15‐point ( TQ2 ) transition question , respectively , in addition to a numeric rating scale evaluating the importance of the perceived change . Four external criteria were generated using both stringent and less stringent st and ards to dichotomise patients . Discrimination was determined using area under the receiver operating characteristic curve ( ROCauc ) and responsiveness using st and ardised response mean ( SRM ) . Results demonstrated small variations in ROCauc across the external criteria for all outcome measures . 7 % more patients were classified as improved in the group receiving the 15‐point TQ compared to the 7‐point TQ ( stringent st and ard ) . SRMs were higher for the retrospective TQs in primary sector patients compared to the serial measures with no difference between TQ1 and TQ2 . On the basis of our findings we have outlined a proposal for a st and ardised use of transition questions
Absolute MCID was strongly associated with baseline pain , explaining approximately two-thirds of the variation , and to a lesser degree with the operational definition of minimum pain relief and clinical condition .
MCID  for chronic pain relief vary considerably .
Baseline pain is strongly associated with absolute , but not relative , measures .
To a much lesser degree , MCID is also influenced by the operational definition of relevant pain relief and possibly by clinical condition .
BACKGROUND The minimum clinical ly important difference ( MCID ) is used to interpret the relevance of treatment effects , e.g. , when developing clinical guidelines , evaluating trial results or planning sample sizes .
There is currently no agreement on an appropriate MCID in chronic pain and little is known about which context ual factors cause variation .
METHODS This is a systematic review .