Most of the outcome question naires had a mixed content reflecting various constructs such as pain and symptoms , sleep disturbances , psychological dysfunctions , physical impairments , and social functions .
STUDY DESIGN A systematic literature review of outcome question naires design ed for assessing functional status or disability in patients with low back pain .
OBJECTIVES To provide a comprehensive overview of all functioning/disability question naires used in recent years and to explore how the main concept(s ) was described or defined in the original paper , the content or the domains of disability , and the measurement properties of the question naires .
SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA A number of clinical tools design ed for evaluating the functional status of patients with low back pain have been developed .
Only a few have been review ed earlier , and there has been little focus on the content reflected in the question naires .
Variability of outcome after lumbar disc surgery.
STUDY DESIGN A prospect i ve , consecutive study of patients ' outcome  at three subsequent follow-up times after lumbar disc surgery .  OBJECTIVES To evaluate how consistent outcome remained in a group of patients after lumbar disc surgery .  SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA Despite similar results concerning the overall outcome , results in most studies show different prognostic factors for lumbar disc surgery at different follow-up times . A reason for this observation could be that patients shift to a different outcome group during the observation period . METHODS Before surgery and at the three follow-ups ( 3 , 12 , and 28 months after surgery ) the Low Back Outcome Score was calculated . Groups with favorable and unfavorable outcome were determined after each follow-up according to the scores . RESULTS Ninety-eight patients were studied . Forty percent showed an unstable outcome at different follow-up times . For each follow-up , three prognostic factors were determined . No prognostic factor showed significance at all follow-up examinations . CONCLUSIONS Patients whose outcome after lumbar disc surgery does not remain stable present a major problem in the calculation of prognostic factors
Most of the outcome question naires had a mixed content reflecting various constructs such as pain and symptoms , sleep disturbances , psychological dysfunctions , physical impairments , and social functions .
STUDY DESIGN A systematic literature review of outcome question naires design ed for assessing functional status or disability in patients with low back pain .
OBJECTIVES To provide a comprehensive overview of all functioning/disability question naires used in recent years and to explore how the main concept(s ) was described or defined in the original paper , the content or the domains of disability , and the measurement properties of the question naires .
SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA A number of clinical tools design ed for evaluating the functional status of patients with low back pain have been developed .
Only a few have been review ed earlier , and there has been little focus on the content reflected in the question naires .