CHRONIC LOW-BACK-PAIN - THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PATIENT SATISFACTIONAND PAIN, IMPAIRMENT, AND DISABILITY OUTCOMES

Study Design. Treatment outcomes for low back pain have been measured by varying standards of pain, impairment, and disability. This study e xamines the relationship between these three outcomes and treatment sa tisfaction in patients with chronic low back pain (CLBP). Methods. Nin ety CLBP patients underwent initial pain (VAS), impairment (PIS), and disability (OPQ) evaluations. Results. Correlation coefficients betwee n initial VAS, PIS, and OPQ were all less than 0.50. At 5-year follow- up, pain and disability scores were closely matched, more with lower m ean scores among workers (P = 0.04 and 0.001). For 65 rehabilitation p articipants, 5-year patient satisfaction scores did not relate closely with VAS, PIS, and OPQ improvements during treatment (r = 0.15, 0.01, and 0.14). Five-year satisfaction correlated weakly with current pain and disability (r = 0.32, -0.36). Satisfaction levels were higher for workers after 1 year (P = 0.01), and after 5 years (P = 0.34). Conclu sions. This study suggests that CLBP patients and their health care pr actitioners mutually set distinct pretreatment pain, impairment, and d isability goals and judge outcomes accordingly.