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Research methods for subgrouping low back pain

BACKGROUND: There is considerable clinician and researcher interest in whether the outcomes for patients with low back pain, and the efficiency of the health systems that treat them, can be improved by 'subgrouping research'. Subgrouping research seeks to identify subgroups of people who h...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Kent, Peter, Keating, Jennifer L, Leboeuf-Yde, Charlotte
Formato: Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2010
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2908106/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20598153
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2288-10-62
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author Kent, Peter
Keating, Jennifer L
Leboeuf-Yde, Charlotte
author_facet Kent, Peter
Keating, Jennifer L
Leboeuf-Yde, Charlotte
author_sort Kent, Peter
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: There is considerable clinician and researcher interest in whether the outcomes for patients with low back pain, and the efficiency of the health systems that treat them, can be improved by 'subgrouping research'. Subgrouping research seeks to identify subgroups of people who have clinically important distinctions in their treatment needs or prognoses. Due to a proliferation of research methods and variability in how subgrouping results are interpreted, it is timely to open discussion regarding a conceptual framework for the research designs and statistical methods available for subgrouping studies (a method framework). The aims of this debate article are: (1) to present a method framework to inform the design and evaluation of subgrouping research in low back pain, (2) to describe method options when investigating prognostic effects or subgroup treatment effects, and (3) to discuss the strengths and limitations of research methods suitable for the hypothesis-setting phase of subgroup studies. DISCUSSION: The proposed method framework proposes six phases for studies of subgroups: studies of assessment methods, hypothesis-setting studies, hypothesis-testing studies, narrow validation studies, broad validation studies, and impact analysis studies. This framework extends and relabels a classification system previously proposed by McGinn et al (2000) as suitable for studies of clinical prediction rules. This extended classification, and its descriptive terms, explicitly anchor research findings to the type of evidence each provides. The inclusive nature of the framework invites appropriate consideration of the results of diverse research designs. Method pathways are described for studies designed to test and quantify prognostic effects or subgroup treatment effects, and examples are discussed. The proposed method framework is presented as a roadmap for conversation amongst researchers and clinicians who plan, stage and perform subgrouping research. SUMMARY: This article proposes a research method framework for studies of subgroups in low back pain. Research designs and statistical methods appropriate for sequential phases in this research are discussed, with an emphasis on those suitable for hypothesis-setting studies of subgroups of people seeking care.
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spelling pubmed-29081062010-07-22 Research methods for subgrouping low back pain Kent, Peter Keating, Jennifer L Leboeuf-Yde, Charlotte BMC Med Res Methodol Debate BACKGROUND: There is considerable clinician and researcher interest in whether the outcomes for patients with low back pain, and the efficiency of the health systems that treat them, can be improved by 'subgrouping research'. Subgrouping research seeks to identify subgroups of people who have clinically important distinctions in their treatment needs or prognoses. Due to a proliferation of research methods and variability in how subgrouping results are interpreted, it is timely to open discussion regarding a conceptual framework for the research designs and statistical methods available for subgrouping studies (a method framework). The aims of this debate article are: (1) to present a method framework to inform the design and evaluation of subgrouping research in low back pain, (2) to describe method options when investigating prognostic effects or subgroup treatment effects, and (3) to discuss the strengths and limitations of research methods suitable for the hypothesis-setting phase of subgroup studies. DISCUSSION: The proposed method framework proposes six phases for studies of subgroups: studies of assessment methods, hypothesis-setting studies, hypothesis-testing studies, narrow validation studies, broad validation studies, and impact analysis studies. This framework extends and relabels a classification system previously proposed by McGinn et al (2000) as suitable for studies of clinical prediction rules. This extended classification, and its descriptive terms, explicitly anchor research findings to the type of evidence each provides. The inclusive nature of the framework invites appropriate consideration of the results of diverse research designs. Method pathways are described for studies designed to test and quantify prognostic effects or subgroup treatment effects, and examples are discussed. The proposed method framework is presented as a roadmap for conversation amongst researchers and clinicians who plan, stage and perform subgrouping research. SUMMARY: This article proposes a research method framework for studies of subgroups in low back pain. Research designs and statistical methods appropriate for sequential phases in this research are discussed, with an emphasis on those suitable for hypothesis-setting studies of subgroups of people seeking care. BioMed Central 2010-07-03 /pmc/articles/PMC2908106/ /pubmed/20598153 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2288-10-62 Text en Copyright ©2010 Kent et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Debate
Kent, Peter
Keating, Jennifer L
Leboeuf-Yde, Charlotte
Research methods for subgrouping low back pain
title Research methods for subgrouping low back pain
title_full Research methods for subgrouping low back pain
title_fullStr Research methods for subgrouping low back pain
title_full_unstemmed Research methods for subgrouping low back pain
title_short Research methods for subgrouping low back pain
title_sort research methods for subgrouping low back pain
topic Debate
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2908106/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20598153
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2288-10-62
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