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 .
Is a Condition-Specific Instrument for Patients with Low Back Pain/Leg Symptoms Really Necessary?: The Responsiveness of the Oswestry Disability Index, MODEMS, and the SF-36
Study Design . Analysis of longitudinal data collected prospect ively from patients seen in 27 National Spine Network member centers across the United States . Objective . To evaluate the responsiveness of the Oswestry Disability Index , MODEMS scales , and all scales and summary scales of the MOS Short-Form 36 ( SF-36 ) for patients with low back pain/leg symptoms . Summary of Background Data . The responsiveness of general and condition-specific health status instruments is a key concept for clinicians and scientists . Various authors have explored responsiveness in common surveys used to assess spine patients . Although it is generally believed that condition-specific measures are more responsive to change in the condition under study , in the case of low back pain , most authors agree that further exploration is necessary . Methods . Patients with diagnoses of herniated disc , spinal stenosis , and spondylosis from the National Spine Network data base who completed baseline and 3-month follow-up surveys were analyzed . Patient-provider consensus regarding improvement , worsening , or no change in the condition was selected as the external criterion . Responsiveness was evaluated using ROC curve analysis and effect size calculations . Results . Nine hundred and seventy patients had complete data at baseline and 3 months . At follow-up , 68 % of the patients had consensus improvement . Based on ROC analysis , scales assessing pain were significantly more responsive than scales assessing function . There were no significant differences between the condition-specific scales and their equivalent general-health counterpart . The scales with the highest probabilities of correctly identifying patient ’s improvement were : the condition-specific pain scale from MODEMS ( PAIN , ROC = 0.758 ) ; the combined pain and function scale from MODEMS ( MPDL , ROC = 0.755 ) ; the general pain scale from the SF-36 ( BP , ROC = 0.753 ) ; the combined pain and function scale from the SF-36 ( PCS , ROC = 0.745 ) ; the condition-specific function measure from the Oswestry ( ODI , ROC = 0.723 ) ; and the physical function measure from the SF-36 ( PF , ROC = 0.721 ) . A similar rank order was typically maintained with effect size calculations . Results were nearly identical in patients with multiple non-spine-related comorbidities and in patients with high degrees of perceived  disability . The BP scale was most responsive to worsening of symptoms . Conclusion . For studies of patients with low back problems , the general SF-36 may be a sufficient measure of health status and patient function , without the need for additional condition-specific instruments .  Pain scales  appear to be the most responsive measures in patients with low back pain
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 .