Prognosis of chronic low back pain: design of an inception cohort study.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Although clinical guidelines generally portray chronic low back pain as a condition with a poor prognosis this portrayal is based on studies of potentially unrepresentative survival cohorts. The aim of this study is to describe the prognosis of an inception cohort of people with chronic low back pain presenting for primary care.

Methods/design

The study will be an inception cohort study with one year follow-up. Participants are drawn from a cohort of consecutive patients presenting with acute low back pain (less than 2 weeks duration) to primary care clinics in Sydney, Australia. Those patients who continue to experience pain at three months, and are therefore classified as having chronic back pain, are invited to participate in the current study. The cohort will

SUBMITTER: Costa Lda C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1800846 | biostudies-literature | 2007 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature