Do Multidimensional Pain Inventory Scale score changes indicate risk of receiving sick leave benefits 1 year after a pain rehabilitation programme??

Abstract

Purpose. To study whether scale score changes in the Multidimensional Pain Inventory ((MPI)) can predict which persons disabled by pain will receive sick leave benefits 1 year after completing a pain rehabilitation programme.Method. An observational study of MPI data derived from 1468 patients, 388 men and 1080 women, who had participated in multidisciplinary cognitive-behavioural oriented pain rehabilitation programmes in Sweden, collected from the Swedish Quality Register for Pain Rehabilitation, before, at the end and 1 year after the programme.Results. Most MPI scale scores showed improvements after completing a pain rehabilitation programme and this improvement was sustained after 1 year. Moreover, we found that a decrease in MPI scales scores for Pain severity and Interference immediately after the pain rehabilitation programme decreased the risk of being on full-time sick leave 1 year later [[OR 0.85, ((95%% CI 0.73–0.99)) and OR 0.73, ((95%% CI 0.61–0.87)), respectively]]. The Interference scale, which may be considered to include ICF components of both activities and participation, might represent the core of suffering among persons disabled with pain.Conclusions. A rehabilitation intervention directed to combating the consequences of pain in activities and participation rather than against pain per se might lead to improved working capacity.