Comparison of two multimodal pain rehabilitation programmes, in relation to sex and age

To evaluate patient-reported outcome measures in 2 different multimodal pain rehabilitation programmes and to determine whether outcomes are related to sex or age at 1-year follow-up.

Longitudinal retrospective study.

Patients who had participated in 1 of 2 multimodal pain rehabilitation programmes at 2 rehabilitation centres. A total of 356 women and 83 men, divided into 3 age groups.

Data from the Swedish Quality Registry for Pain Rehabilitation regarding activity and physical functions, pain intensity, health status and emotional functions analysed with descriptive statistics.

Significant improvements in activity and physical functions, pain intensity and emotional func-tions were found in both multimodal pain rehabilitation programmes. Women improved more than men. The older group improved in all emotional functions (depression, anxiety, mental component summary), while the younger group improved only in depression. The intermediate group improved in all variables except anxiety.

Patients improved regardless of the design of the multimodal pain rehabilitation programme. Although only small differences were found between men and women and among the 3 age groups in terms of the measured variables, these findings may have clinical relevance and indicate a need to vary the design of the interventions in multimodal rehabilitation programmes for these subgroups.