Predicting patients' perceptions of response to treatment for low-back pain

An effort has been made to identify variables associated with favorable responses to treatment for low back pain. Using a series of 10 subjective measures, it was found that a rating given by the treating physician at the initial patient-physician contact correlated best with the patient's perception of response to treatment. Subscales from the MMPI and a pain drawing also correlated significantly with the patient's self report. Finally, it was noted that a multiple regression approach incorporating eight variables accounted for a significantly greater portion of the variance in treatment outcome than any single predictor.