Study population
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a | Inception cohort: positive if patients were identified at an early uniform point (inception cohort) in the course of their sick leave due to low back pain). In this review <6 weeks after start of sick leave. | +/−/? |
b | Description of inclusion and exclusion criteria: positive if criteria were formulated for: age, duration of symptoms, duration of sick leave, co-morbidity | +/−/? |
c | Description of study population: positive if described in what setting the patients are recruited (i.e. general practice, hospital, occupational setting) | +/−/? |
Response
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d | Response: positive if the response ⩾75% | +/−/? |
e | Information on non-responders versus responders: positive if information presented about patient/disease characteristics of responders/non-responders or no selective response | +/−/? |
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+ = no selective response, information given; − = selective response, information given; ? = not clear
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Follow up (extent and length)
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f |
Positive if prospective design was used, also positive in case of a retrospective cohort and determinants are measured before outcome.
| +/−/? |
g |
Positive if the follow up period was at least 12 months
| +/−/? |
h |
Positive if total number of drop-outs/loss to follow up <20% on the last moment of follow up
| +/−/? |
i | Information completers versus loss to follow-up/drop-outs: positive if demographic/clinical information (patient/disease characteristics such as age, sex, and other potential prognostic predictors) was presented for completers and those lost to follow up/drop-outs at the main moment of outcome measurement, or no drop-outs/loss to follow up | +/−/? |
| Loss to follow-up/drop-outs: all patients of the assembled cohort minus the number of patients at the main health status measurement for the main outcome measure, divided by all patients of the assembled cohort | |
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+ = no selective follow up, information given; − = selective follow up, information given; ? = not clear
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Outcome
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j | Definition of main outcome: return to work | +/−/? |
Prognostic factors
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k | Standardised assessment of patient characteristics and potential clinical prognostic factor(s): positive if standardised questionnaires or objective measurements were used at baseline of at least 4 of the following 7 potential prognostic factors: | +/−/? |
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(a) age; (b) sex; (c) pain; (d) functional status; (e) duration of complaints; (f) back complaints; (g) physical workload
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l | Standardised assessment of potential psychosocial prognostic factor(s): positive if standardised questionnaires or objective measurements were used at baseline of at least 1 of the following 6 potential prognostic factors: | +/−/? |
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(a) depression; (b) somatisation; (c) distress; (d) fear and avoidance; (e) coping strategies; (f) psychosocial work related factors (social support, job decision latitude)
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Data presentation
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m | Frequencies given of main outcome measure (return to work): positive if frequency, percentage or mean, median (interquartile range) and standard deviation/CI are reported of the outcome measures | +/−/? |
n | Frequencies of all prognostic factors: positive if frequency, percentage or mean, median (interquartile range) and standard deviation/CI are reported of all prognostic factors | +/−/? |
o | Appropriate analysis techniques: positive if univariate crude estimates are provided | +/−/? |
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Positive in case hazard ratios, odds ratios, relative risks, or relative risk ratios are presented
| |
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Negative in case correlations are reported
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p | Multivariate prognostic model is presented: positive if attempt is made to determine a set of prognostic factors with the highest prognostic value.
>Positive if a manual forward stepwise procedure was used (pin <0.05; pout ⩾0.10) | +/−/? |
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Negative in case of an analysis based on an automated forward or stepwise procedure
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q | Sufficient numbers: positive if the number of cases in the multivariate analysis was at least ten times the number of independent variables in the analysis | +/−/? |