Pooled estimates of mean pain and disability scores*
| Group and time point | Pooled estimate of mean pain scores (95% CI) | Pooled estimate of mean disability scores (95% CI) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Inception time uncorrected† | Inception time corrected† | Inception time uncorrected† | Inception time corrected† | |
| Acute low back pain (< 6 wk) | ||||
| Baseline | 56 (49 to 62) | NA‡ | 43 (37 to 49) | NA‡ |
| 6 wk | 26 (21 to 31) | 29 (20 to 38) | 22 (19 to 26) | 24 (15 to 33) |
| 26 wk | 22 (18 to 26) | 21 (15 to 27) | 18 (14 to 21) | 15 (8 to 22) |
| 52 wk | 21 (17 to 25) | 20 (15 to 26) | 17 (14 to 21) | 15 (8 to 21) |
| Subacute low back pain (6 to less than 12 wk) | ||||
| Baseline | 63 (55 to 71) | NA‡ | 44 (34 to 54) | NA‡ |
| 6 wk | 29 (22 to 37) | 82 (64 to 100) | 29 (21 to 38) | 50 (35 to 66) |
| 26 wk | 29 (22 to 36) | 32 (24 to 40) | 25 (16 to 33) | 28 (16 to 39) |
| 52 wk | 31 (23 to 39) | 34 (26 to 43) | 25 (16 to 33) | 24 (13 to 35) |
| Persistent low back pain (12 to less than 52 wk) | ||||
| Baseline | 56 (37 to 74) | NA‡ | 57 (34 to 81) | NA‡ |
| 6 wk | 48 (32 to 64) | NA‡ | 58 (35 to 82) | NA‡ |
| 26 wk | 43 (29 to 57) | 52 (8 to 97) | 59 (35 to 83) | 49 (20 to 78) |
| 52 wk | 40 (27 to 54) | 44 (−3 to 90) | 59 (35 to 83) | 38 (15 to 60) |
Note: CI = confidence interval, NA = not applicable.
↵* All values are expressed in a scale ranging from 0 (i.e., no pain or disability) to 100 (i.e., maximum pain or disability).
↵† Inception time uncorrected is time captured as time since entry into the study. Inception time corrected is time captured as time since pain onset.
↵‡ The estimates of some values were not obtained for analyses of inception time–corrected time for pain outcomes because this involved extrapolating the fitted curves beyond the range of the data.