Analysis of chronic pain patients at a multidisciplinary spine center

The primary objective is to characterize patients presenting to a multidisciplinary spine center to understand sociodemographic features, pain characteristics, and functional status across diagnoses. The secondary objective is to identify factors associated with worse outcomes in radiculopathy patients.

In this retrospective, registry-based cohort study, we extracted questionnaire and EHR data for 10,069 patients. Baseline sociodemographic, clinical, and pain-related were examined across the top 10 diagnostic categories. Thereafter, we performed an analysis of radiculopathy patients (n = 653) using GLMM with random intercepts to identify baseline factors associated with changes in NRS and PROMIS-PI.

At presentation, patients had moderate pain intensity (mean NRS:5.1, SD:2.1), significant impairment in PROMIS-PI (mean:64.6, SD:7.9), and PROMIS-PF (mean:37.7, SD:8.9), regardless of the diagnosis. Longitudinal analysis of radiculopathy patients identified multiple statistically significant factors (p < 0.05) associated with worse outcomes, including sleep interference, depression/anxiety, smoking, BMI, and being female, Black/African American, or Asian race.

This study explores predictors of poor outcomes that may identify opportunities for interventions targeting modifiable risk factors and highlights the need for further research into how health disparities influence treatment outcomes. Identifying non-responders could improve selecting effective treatments through precision care, ultimately reducing costs and disability associated with chronic pain.