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Focus article: report of the NIH task force on research standards for chronic low back pain

  • Report of the NIH Task Force
  • Published:
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Abstract

Despite rapidly increasing intervention, functional disability due to chronic low back pain (cLBP) has increased in recent decades. We often cannot identify mechanisms to explain the major negative impact cLBP has on patients’ lives. Such cLBP is often termed non-specific and may be due to multiple biologic and behavioral etiologies. Researchers use varied inclusion criteria, definitions, baseline assessments, and outcome measures, which impede comparisons and consensus. Therefore, NIH Pain Consortium charged a Research Task Force (RTF) to draft standards for research on cLBP. The resulting multidisciplinary panel recommended using 2 questions to define cLBP; classifying cLBP by its impact (defined by pain intensity, pain interference, and physical function); use of a minimum dataset to describe research participants (drawing heavily on the PROMIS methodology); reporting “responder analyses” in addition to mean outcome scores; and suggestions for future research and dissemination. The Pain Consortium has approved the recommendations, which investigators should incorporate into NIH grant proposals. The RTF believes that these recommendations will advance the field, help to resolve controversies, and facilitate future research addressing the genomic, neurologic, and other mechanistic substrates of chronic low back pain. We expect that the RTF recommendations will become a dynamic document and undergo continual improvement.

Perspective

A task force was convened by the NIH Pain Consortium with the goal of developing research standards for chronic low back pain. The results included recommendations for definitions, a minimum dataset, reporting outcomes, and future research. Greater consistency in reporting should facilitate comparisons among studies and the development of phenotypes.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Oregon Health and Science University, 3181 SW Sam Jackson Park Rd, Mail Code FM, Portland, OR, 97239, USA

    Richard A. Deyo & Roger Chou

  2. University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA

    Samuel F. Dworkin, Dagmar Amtmann, John Loeser & Dennis Turk

  3. Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, IL, USA

    Gunnar Andersson

  4. George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA

    David Borenstein

  5. Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA

    Eugene Carragee & Sean Mackey

  6. Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA

    John Carrino

  7. Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA

    Karon Cook

  8. VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System and University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

    Anthony DeLitto & Debra K. Weiner

  9. Palmer College of Chiropractic, Davenport, IA, USA

    Christine Goertz

  10. National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, Bethesda, MD, USA

    Partap Khalsa

  11. Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, National Institute for Arthritis, Bethesda, MD, USA

    James Panagis

  12. New England Baptist Hospital, Roxbury Crossing, MA, USA

    James Rainville

  13. Dartmouth University, Hanover, NH, USA

    Tor Tosteson

  14. Group Health Research Institute, Seattle, WA, USA

    Michael Von Korff

Authors
  1. Richard A. Deyo
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  2. Samuel F. Dworkin
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  3. Dagmar Amtmann
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  4. Gunnar Andersson
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  5. David Borenstein
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  6. Eugene Carragee
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  8. Roger Chou
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  9. Karon Cook
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  10. Anthony DeLitto
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  11. Christine Goertz
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  12. Partap Khalsa
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  13. John Loeser
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  14. Sean Mackey
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  15. James Panagis
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  16. James Rainville
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  17. Tor Tosteson
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  18. Dennis Turk
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  19. Michael Von Korff
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  20. Debra K. Weiner
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Richard A. Deyo.

Additional information

This study was supported by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine and the National Institute for Arthritis, Musculoskeletal, and Skin Diseases.

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Deyo, R.A., Dworkin, S.F., Amtmann, D. et al. Focus article: report of the NIH task force on research standards for chronic low back pain. Eur Spine J 23, 2028–2045 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00586-014-3540-3

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