Association of STarT Back Tool and the short form of the Örebro Musculoskeletal Pain Screening Questionnaire with multidimensional risk factors

Abstract

the Short form of the Örebro Musculoskeletal pain Screening Questionnaire (ÖMpSQ-short) and the Start Back tool (SBt) have been developed to screen for risk factors for future low back pain (LBp)related disability and work loss respectively. The aim of this study was to investigate the accordance of the two questionnaires and to evaluate the accumulation of risk factors in the risk groups of both screening tools in a large population-based sample. The study population consisted of 3079 participants of the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966 who had reported LBP over the previous 12 months and had SBT and ÖMPSQ-short data. We evaluated the association of depressive and anxiety symptoms (Hopkins symptom check list-25, Generalized anxiety disorder 7 questionnaire, and Beck's Depression Inventory 21), psychological features (Fear-Avoidance Beliefs Questionnaire), lifestyle characteristics (BMI, smoking, alcohol abuse, physical inactivity) and social factors (education level) with the SBT and ÖMPSQ-short risk groups. The high-risk groups of both questionnaires were associated (p < 0.001) with depressive and anxiety symptoms and fear-avoidance beliefs. In addition, adverse lifestyle factors accumulated in the higher risk groups, especially from the ÖMPSQ-short. Agreement between the two questionnaires was moderate for men and fair for women. Low back pain (LBP) is the most disabling health condition worldwide 1. No cost-effective or widely available preventive LBP interventions have yet been developed 2. Predictors of persistent LBP-related disability include symptom-related factors such as previous LBP episodes, pain intensity and the presence of leg pain; lifestyle factors such as overweight/obesity, smoking and physical inactivity; psychological factors such as depression, catastrophizing and fear-avoidance beliefs; and social factors such as education, physical workload and work satisfaction 3. To improve the effectiveness of healthcare, care processes need to take these factors into account individually and systematically 2. Early identification of patients who are at the highest risk of developing a prolonged or persistent pain problem is important 2. The short form of the Örebro Musculoskeletal Pain Screening Questionnaire (ÖMPSQ-short) and the STarT Back Tool (SBT) have been developed for the easy and systematic identification of predictive psychosocial and symptom-related factors 4-6. The SBT was developed to identify subgroups of patients with non-specific LBP in order to determine which kind of treatment would benefit each patient. Cutoff scores divide patients into low-, medium-and high-risk

Resveratrol‐enhanced SIRT1‐mediated osteogenesis in porous endplates attenuates low back pain and anxiety behaviors

“…Advice, reassurance, encouragement of physical activity, and psychotherapy have gradually become recommended as first‐line care for LBP patients 49,50 . Among all above nondrug treatment measures, relief of anxiety to alleviate LBP has recently received progressive attention 51,52 . Although there may be some controversy, recent studies indicate that SIRT1 plays important roles in the pathophysiology and treatment of anxiety 53‐55 .…”

Evaluation of training in guideline‐oriented biopsychosocial management of low back pain in occupational health services: Protocol of a cluster randomized trial

“…We will encourage the HCPs to classify the patients into low‐, moderate‐, or high‐risk groups during the first OHS visit, based on the SBT 20 . The occupational health physicians will initially plan the individual treatment process.…”

“…We will also deliver a written educational package to support the HCPs who received training, to enable them to share their ideas on the BPS approach and the use of the We will encourage the HCPs to classify the patients into low-, moderate-, or high-risk groups during the first OHS visit, based on the SBT. 20 The occupational health physicians will initially plan the individual treatment process. Medium-risk patients will receive similar treatment to those in the low-risk group.…”

Convergent and known group validity of the STarT Back Tool in a Nigerian population with chronic low back pain

“…to group patients into three categories of risk of poor outcome (persistent disabling symptoms)low, medium and high risk. It comprises modifiable factors (i. e. biomedical, psychological and social) for LBP disability [7,[13][14][15].…”

“…Studies have shown that SBT is a tool that can be used to predict future disability among individuals with LBP [6,8,16]. Also, studies have reported varying degrees of associations between SBT, disability and some psychosocial variables [15,17]. Further, the convergent validity, which refers to the degree to which two measures capture a common construct [18] (in this case the SBT and other full-length modifiable risk factors such as the pain catastrophizing, fear-avoidance beliefs and kinesiophobia), has not been fully investigated for the SBT.…”