Several factors were found to be associated with disability at follow-up for at least two different pain symptoms .
However , owing to insufficient studies , no generic risk factors for sick leave were identified .
Conclusions Multiple site pain , high pain severity , older age , baseline disability and longer pain duration were identified as potential prognostic factors for disability across pain sites .
There was limited evidence that anxiety and depression were associated with disability in patients with subacute pain , indicating that these factors may not play as large a role as expected in developing disability due to a pain condition .
Objective This systematic review aims to identify generic prognostic factors for disability and sick leave in subacute pain patients .
Psychosocial Variables in Patients With (Sub)Acute Low Back Pain: An Inception Cohort in Primary Care Physical Therapy in the Netherlands
Study Design . A prospect i ve cohort study of patients with episodes of acute or subacute low back pain , seeking physical therapy in primary care , with follow-up at weeks 2 , 4 , 8 , and 12 . Objectives . To evaluate the association between psychosocial factors and the transition from acute or subacute low back pain to chronicity . Summary of Background Data . Psychosocial factors have long been thought to be associated with chronic pain only . Recent prospect i ve studies , however , suggest that these factors may also be important in acute or subacute low back pain . Methods . Demographic , psychosocial , and psychological baseline data were collected and analyzed from a sample of 66 acute or subacute patients with low back pain in order to predict the 3-month outcome . Results . After 3 months , response rate was 85 % ( 56 patients ) . Forty-five percent rated their current status as “ not recovered . ” Twelve percent reported work absenteeism . Using multiple regression analyses , baseline scores on the  Acute Low Back Pain Screening Question naire , Pain Coping Inventory , Fear-Avoidance Beliefs Question naire , and Tampa Scale for Kinesiophobia were not significantly associated with nonrecovery at 3 months . The only significant predictor at baseline was the subscale pain of the ALBPSQ , correctly classifying 80 % of the patients . The relative risk for not being recovered was 3.72 ( 95 % confidence interval , 1.63–8.52 ) for the subjects with high scores on the subscale for pain . Pain scores and scores on psychosocial variables at 12 weeks were not associated . Conclusions . The study strongly revealed pain-related items to be essential factors in the development of chronicity and long-term disability in primary care physical therapy . Health status at 8 weeks seems crucial in developing chronicity
Several factors were found to be associated with disability at follow-up for at least two different pain symptoms .
However , owing to insufficient studies , no generic risk factors for sick leave were identified .
Conclusions Multiple site pain , high pain severity , older age , baseline disability and longer pain duration were identified as potential prognostic factors for disability across pain sites .
There was limited evidence that anxiety and depression were associated with disability in patients with subacute pain , indicating that these factors may not play as large a role as expected in developing disability due to a pain condition .
Objective This systematic review aims to identify generic prognostic factors for disability and sick leave in subacute pain patients .