Chronic low back pain patient groups in primary care – A cross sectional cluster analysis

BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders

Annette Becker³  Erika Baum³  Jürgen Barth¹  Konstantin Strauch²  Markus Brugger²  Corinna Leonhardt³  Oliver Hirsch³  Nikita Jegan³  Annika Viniol³ 

[1] Institute for Social and Preventive Medicine (ISPM), University of Bern, Niesenweg 6, 3012 Bern, Switzerland;Institute of Genetic Epidemiology, Helmholtz Center Munich – German Research Center for Environmental Health, Ingolstädter Landstraße 1, 85764 Neuherberg, Germany;Department of General Practice / Family Medicine, Philipps University of Marburg, Karl-von-Frisch-Str. 4, 35043 Marburg, Germany

关键词: Primary care;    Chronic low back pain;    Subgroups;   

Others  :  1129472
DOI  :  10.1186/1471-2474-14-294

 received in 2013-03-04, accepted in 2013-09-24,  发布年份 2013

【 摘 要 】

Background

Due to the heterogeneous nature of chronic low back pain (CLBP), it is necessary to identify patient groups and evaluate treatments within these groups. We aimed to identify groups of patients with CLBP in the primary care setting.

Methods

We performed a k-means cluster analysis on a large data set (n = 634) of primary care patients with CLBP. Variables of sociodemographic data, pain characteristics, psychological status (i.e., depression, anxiety, somatization), and the patient resources of resilience and coping strategies were included.

Results

We found three clusters that can be characterized as “pensioners with age-associated pain caused by degenerative diseases”, “middle-aged patients with high mental distress and poor coping resources”, and “middle-aged patients who are less pain-affected and better positioned with regard to their mental health”.

Conclusions

Our results supported current knowledge concerning groups of CLBP patients in primary care. In particular, we identified a group that was most disabled and distressed, and which was mainly characterized by psychological variables. As shown in our study, pain-related coping strategies and resilience were low in these patients and might be addressed in differentiating treatment strategies. Future studies should focus on the identification of this group in order to achieve effective treatment allocation.

Trial registration

German Clinical Trial Register DRKS00003123

【 授权许可】

   
2013 Viniol et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

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