RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MMPI-2 CLUSTER PROFILES AND SURGICAL OUTCOME IN LOW-BACK-PAIN PATIENTS

The purpose of this study was to investigate back surgery outcome diff erences based on Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2 ) profile types. Four homogenous subgroups were found from a hierarchi cal cluster analysis of 201 MMPI-2 profiles. These four clusters consi sted of a Depressed-pathological profile, a conversion V profile (V-ty pe), a neurotic Triad profile, and a within normal limit (WNL) profile . Patients in the WNL and Triad subgroups reported significantly more satisfaction with postsurgical improvement than did patients in the De pressed-pathological or V-type subgroups. The Triad subgroup also gave a more favorable subjective rating of surgical outcome than did patie nts in the Depressed-pathological or V-type subgroups. These groups al so differed on measures of work status and nonwork-related physical ac tivity levels but not on indices of pain.