Relationship between MMPI-2 cluster profiles and surgical outcome in low-back pain patients

The purpose of this study was to investigate back surgery outcome differences based on Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2) profile types. Four homogenous subgroups were found from a hierarchical cluster analysis of 201 MMPI-2 profiles. These four clusters consisted of a Depressed-pathological profile, a conversion V profile (V-type), a neurotic Triad profile, and a within normal limit (WNL) profile. Patients in the WNL and Triad subgroups reported significantly more satisfaction with postsurgical improvement than did patients in the Depressed-pathological or V-type subgroups. The Triad subgroup also gave a more favorable subjective rating of surgical outcome than did patients in the Depressed-pathological or V-type subgroups. These groups also differed on measures of work status and nonwork-related physical activity levels but not on indices of pain.