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Comparison of the Swedish STarT Back Screening Tool and the Short Form of the Örebro Musculoskeletal Pain Screening Questionnaire in patients with acute or subacute back and neck pain

Forsbrand, Malin LU ; Grahn, Birgitta LU ; Hill, Jonathan C ; Petersson, Ingemar F LU ; Sennehed, Charlotte Post LU and Stigmar, Kjerstin LU (2017) In BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders 18(1).
Abstract

BACKGROUND: Patients with back and neck pain are often seen in primary care and it is important to provide them with tailored interventions based on risk stratification/triage. The STarT Back Screening Tool (SBT) is a widely used screening questionnaire which has not yet been validated for a population with back and/or neck pain with short duration. Our aim was to compare the concurrent validity of the SBT and the short form of the ÖMPSQ including psychometric properties and clinical utility in a primary care setting.

METHODS: Patients who applied for physiotherapy by direct access (January 2013 to January 2014) at 35 primary care centers in south Sweden, with acute or subacute back and/or neck pain, aged 18-67 years, who were not... (More)

BACKGROUND: Patients with back and neck pain are often seen in primary care and it is important to provide them with tailored interventions based on risk stratification/triage. The STarT Back Screening Tool (SBT) is a widely used screening questionnaire which has not yet been validated for a population with back and/or neck pain with short duration. Our aim was to compare the concurrent validity of the SBT and the short form of the ÖMPSQ including psychometric properties and clinical utility in a primary care setting.

METHODS: Patients who applied for physiotherapy by direct access (January 2013 to January 2014) at 35 primary care centers in south Sweden, with acute or subacute back and/or neck pain, aged 18-67 years, who were not currently on sick leave or had been on sick leave less than 60 days were asked to complete the SBT and ÖMPSQ-short questionnaire (n = 329). We used the Spearman's rank correlations to study correlations, cross tabulation and Cohen's kappa to analyze agreement of patient classification. Clinical utility was described as clinician scoring miscalculations and misclassifications of total and/or subscale scores.

RESULTS: Completed SBT (9-items) and ÖMPSQ-short (10-items) data were available for 315/329 patients respectively. The statistical correlation for SBT and ÖMPSQ-short total scores was moderately strong (0.62, p < 0.01). In subgroup analyses, the correlations were 0.69 (p < 0.01) for males and 0.57 (p < 0.01) for females. The correlations were lower among older age groups, especially females over 50 years (0.21, p = 0.11). Classification to high or low risk for long-term pain and disability had moderate agreement (κ = 0.42). Observed classification agreement was 70.2%. The SBT had fewer miscalculations (13/315) than the ÖMPSQ-short (54/315).

CONCLUSIONS: The correlation between the SBT and the ÖMPSQ-short scores were moderately strong for individuals with acute or subacute back and/or neck pain. SBT seemed to be clinically feasible to use in clinical practice. We therefore suggest that SBT can be used for individuals with both BP and/or NP in primary care settings but it is important to be aware of that SBT's agreement with the ÖMPSQ-short was poor among females aged over 50 years.

TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov ID: NCT02609750 Registered: November 18, 2015.

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author
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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Journal Article
in
BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders
volume
18
issue
1
article number
89
publisher
BioMed Central (BMC)
external identifiers
  • pmid:28222707
  • scopus:85014182931
  • wos:000395205900001
ISSN
1471-2474
DOI
10.1186/s12891-017-1449-9
project
WorkUp
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
32c02f5f-e51e-4b84-b9d8-a49fd1db9cf4
date added to LUP
2017-03-01 14:48:08
date last changed
2024-01-13 15:58:27
@article{32c02f5f-e51e-4b84-b9d8-a49fd1db9cf4,
  abstract     = {{<p>BACKGROUND: Patients with back and neck pain are often seen in primary care and it is important to provide them with tailored interventions based on risk stratification/triage. The STarT Back Screening Tool (SBT) is a widely used screening questionnaire which has not yet been validated for a population with back and/or neck pain with short duration. Our aim was to compare the concurrent validity of the SBT and the short form of the ÖMPSQ including psychometric properties and clinical utility in a primary care setting.</p><p>METHODS: Patients who applied for physiotherapy by direct access (January 2013 to January 2014) at 35 primary care centers in south Sweden, with acute or subacute back and/or neck pain, aged 18-67 years, who were not currently on sick leave or had been on sick leave less than 60 days were asked to complete the SBT and ÖMPSQ-short questionnaire (n = 329). We used the Spearman's rank correlations to study correlations, cross tabulation and Cohen's kappa to analyze agreement of patient classification. Clinical utility was described as clinician scoring miscalculations and misclassifications of total and/or subscale scores.</p><p>RESULTS: Completed SBT (9-items) and ÖMPSQ-short (10-items) data were available for 315/329 patients respectively. The statistical correlation for SBT and ÖMPSQ-short total scores was moderately strong (0.62, p &lt; 0.01). In subgroup analyses, the correlations were 0.69 (p &lt; 0.01) for males and 0.57 (p &lt; 0.01) for females. The correlations were lower among older age groups, especially females over 50 years (0.21, p = 0.11). Classification to high or low risk for long-term pain and disability had moderate agreement (κ = 0.42). Observed classification agreement was 70.2%. The SBT had fewer miscalculations (13/315) than the ÖMPSQ-short (54/315).</p><p>CONCLUSIONS: The correlation between the SBT and the ÖMPSQ-short scores were moderately strong for individuals with acute or subacute back and/or neck pain. SBT seemed to be clinically feasible to use in clinical practice. We therefore suggest that SBT can be used for individuals with both BP and/or NP in primary care settings but it is important to be aware of that SBT's agreement with the ÖMPSQ-short was poor among females aged over 50 years.</p><p>TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov ID: NCT02609750 Registered: November 18, 2015.</p>}},
  author       = {{Forsbrand, Malin and Grahn, Birgitta and Hill, Jonathan C and Petersson, Ingemar F and Sennehed, Charlotte Post and Stigmar, Kjerstin}},
  issn         = {{1471-2474}},
  keywords     = {{Journal Article}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{02}},
  number       = {{1}},
  publisher    = {{BioMed Central (BMC)}},
  series       = {{BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders}},
  title        = {{Comparison of the Swedish STarT Back Screening Tool and the Short Form of the Örebro Musculoskeletal Pain Screening Questionnaire in patients with acute or subacute back and neck pain}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12891-017-1449-9}},
  doi          = {{10.1186/s12891-017-1449-9}},
  volume       = {{18}},
  year         = {{2017}},
}