Skip to main content

Table 2 Weekly SMS-based details and patient characteristics by patients’ selected visual trajectNumber, nory and their 1-year classified Episodic or Persistent fluctuating pattern (n = 888)

From: Exploring visual pain trajectories in neck pain patients, using clinical course, SMS-based patterns, and patient characteristics: a cohort study

 

Visual trajectory

Visual trajectory

Episodic SMS-based pattern

Persistent fluctuating SMS-based pattern

Single episode

Episodic

Mild ongoing

Fluctuating

Episodic

Mild ongoing

Fluctuating

Number, n

91

225

35

65

104

47

253

Weekly SMS-based details

Total number of days with pain, median (IQR)

100 (81–118)

122 (103–146)

134 (112–172)

154 (130–208)

183 (154–210)

211 (176–268)

273 (221–352)

Proportion (%) of weeks, median (IQR)

 Minor pain (< 2)

80 (67–90)

61 (46–78)

60 (43–76)

44 (33–56)

17 (8–29)

10 (0–24)

2 (0–8)

 Mild pain (≥ 2 < 4)

13 (6–24)

21 (13–31)

21 (13–39)

22 (14–33)

41 (28–55)

52 (33–71)

29 (12–44)

 Moderate pain (≥ 4 < 6)

4 (2–8)

8 (4–20)

8 (2–16)

17 (12–25)

25 (14–37)

25 (13–37)

35 (23–47)

 Severe pain intensity (≥ 6)

0 (0–2)

2 (0–6)

2 (0–4)

6 (4–19)

8 (2–16)

2 (0–8)

19 (6–41)

Mean pain intensity, median (IQR)a

0.6 (0.3–1.1)

1.4 (0.9–2.0)

1.4 (0.9–1.9)

2.1 (1.6–3.0)

2.7 (2.3–3.4)

3.0 (2.4–3.5)

4.3 (3.4–5.1)

Longest pain-free period (weeks), median (IQR)

19 (10–28)

8 (5–14)

7 (5–13)

7 (5–9)

2 (1–2)

1 (0–2)

0 (0–1)

No pain last four weeks, %

67

33

20

15

0

0

0

Number of pain-free periods, median (IQR)

1 (0–2)

2 (1–3)

1 (1–2)

2 (1–3)

1 (0–2)

0 (0–1)

0 (0–0)

Longest painful period (weeks), median (IQR)

4 (3–9)

7 (4–11)

9 (4–12)

9 (6–14)

16 (10–28)

16 (10–39)

26 (13–50)

Stable SMS-based pattern, yes %

25

44

46

58

99

100

100

1-year patient characteristics

Pain intensity, median (IQR)

0 (0–0)

0 (0–2)

1 (0–3)

3 (0–5)

3 (2–5)

3 (2–4)

4 (3–6)

Recovery expectations, median (IQR)

1 (0–2)

4 (2–7)

5 (2–8)

8 (5–10)

7 (4.5–9)

7 (5–10)

9 (7–10)

Örebro screening questionnaire, median (IQR)

17 (11–25)

27 (19–34)

27 (21–39)

37 (30–49)

35 (28–44)

34 (26–40)

47 (40–55)

HSCL-10, median (IQR)

1.1 (1.0–1.5)

1.3 (1.1–1.6)

1.3 (1.1–1.5)

1.4 (1.2–1.8)

1.5 (1.2–1.7)

1.5 (1.2–1.9)

1.6 (1.3–2.0)

NDI, median (IQR)

2 (1–4)

6 (3–9)

6 (4–9)

12 (8–15)

9 (6–12)

8 (5–13)

15 (11–19)

Baseline patient characteristics

Pain intensity, median (IQR)

3 (1–4)

3 (2–5)

2 (1–4)

4 (3–6)

4 (3–6)

4 (3–5)

5 (4–6)

Proportion of patients with positive change scoreb, %

NDI

43

30

23

31

22

21

13

Örebro screening questionnaire

40

27

29

23

19

13

29

HSCL-10

25

20

31

29

20

13

18

Recovery expectation

63

52

31

26

38

30

26

  1. Pain intensity from NRS: the 11-point numerical rating scale [24], Recovery expectations from “In your view, how large is the risk that your current pain may become persistent?” (0–10, 0 = no risk, 10 = very large risk) and psychosocial risk factors: Örebro Screening Questionnaire (0–100) [29, 33], HSCL-10: Hopkins Symptom Checklist measuring emotional stress (0–4) [28], NDI: Neck Disability Index (0–50) measuring disability [26], Health status (0–100) [58]
  2. aPresented as median of individual mean pain intensity
  3. bPositive change score: patients in the cohort’s 80th percentile for change in score between baseline and 1-year