Abstract
Background and Purpose: Clinicians have expressed frustration at the difficulty of interpreting low back pain (LBP) trial outcomes. Using a suite of methods to report outcomes may aid interpretation and transition of research into practice. We aimed to facilitate consensus between LBP experts on how future trials are reported.
Methods and Results: We invited SBPR and LBP Forum members, and authors of LBP trials to participate. In the first round, participants were presented with results of a qualitative study on clinicians’ preferences for different reporting methods. They were asked to rate and comment on the appropriateness of including different reporting methods in a standardised set. In the second round, they reviewed other participants’ ratings and comments, re-rated methods, and edited a statement of recommendation for future reporting. In the final round, participants were asked if they approved of a revised statement. Consensus was measured using the RAND/UCLA appropriateness method and ratified in a meeting at LBP Forum X. Sixty-three experts participated in the study. Ninety-eight percent of participants approved a statement recommending that, where possible, results of LBP trials are reported using between-group mean differences (including advice on clinically important difference), proportion of patients improving in each group, NNT to achieve a minimally important change, and the proportion of deteriorating in each group (all with 95% CIs). Also, additional reporting methods were recommended according to needs of particular trials.
Conclusion: A high level of consensus was reached amongst LBP experts on a statement recommending a standardised set of reporting methods.
Conflict of Interest: None
Source of Funding: Barts and the London Charity
Correspondence should be addressed to: SBPR at the Royal College of Surgeons, 35–43 Lincoln’s Inn Fields, London WC2A 3PE, England.
