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The following is a summary of “Prognostic Factors of Perceived Disability and Perceived Recovery After Whiplash: A Longitudinal, Prospective Study With One-year Follow-up,” published in the March 2024 issue of Pain by Pedrero-Martin et al.
Researchers started a retrospective study to investigate how pain-related thoughts and feelings over time influence long-term recovery from whiplash injuries, as measured by perceived disability and recovery at 6 and 12 months.
They included 161 participants with acute or subacute whiplash-associated disorders. Predictors consisted of self-efficacy beliefs, recovery expectations, pain catastrophizing, optimism, pessimism, pain intensity, and kinesiophobia. At 6 and 12 months, we measured perceived disability and recovery expectations as dichotomized scores. Stepwise regression with bootstrap resampling was utilized to identify the predictors most strongly associated with the outcomes and assess the stability of such selection.
The results showed that baseline perceived disability, pain catastrophizing, and expectation of recovery were the most likely to be statistically significant, with average frequencies of 87.2%, 84.0%, and 84.0%, respectively.
Investigators concluded that baseline expectations, catastrophizing, and disability predicted recovery and disability at 6 and 12 months, highlighting modifiable targets for intervention.
