PSYCHIATRIC-STUDY OF PATIENTS WITH PERSISTENT LOW-BACK PAIN

Summary: Psychological screening with the Middlesex Hospital Questionnaire at initial assessment failed to identify those patients with low back pain who became persistent attenders or those later judged to have psychiatric disorder. Of those whose symptoms had failed to respond to conventional rheumatological treatment and who were still attending after 90 days, 35% were diagnosed as having definite psychiatric morbidity. In the absence of a control group the significance of this finding is uncertain, but its possible implications are discussed. © 1979 Oxford University Press.