Pain
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Missing data in clinical trials can bias estimates of treatment effects. Statisticians and government agencies recommend making every effort to minimize missing data. Although statistical methods are available to accommodate missing data, their validity depends on often untestable assumptions about why the data are missing. ⋯ Last observation carried forward imputation was used most commonly (42%). Thirteen articles reported more than 1 method to accommodate missing data; however, the majority of methods, including last observation carried forward, were not methods currently recommended by statisticians. Authors, reviewers, and editors should prioritize proper reporting of missing data and appropriate use of methods to accommodate them so as to improve the deficiencies identified in this systematic review.
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Multicenter Study
Pain Location and Duration Impact Life Function Interference During the Year Following Motor Vehicle Collision.
Persistent musculoskeletal pain is common after motor vehicle collision (MVC) and often results in substantial disability. The objective of this study was to identify distributions of post-MVC pain that most interfere with specific life functions and that have the greatest interference with aggregate life function. Study data were obtained from a prospective longitudinal multicenter emergency department-based cohort of 948 European Americans experiencing MVC. ⋯ Moderate or severe low back pain was as common as neck pain at week 6 (prevalence 37% for each) and overlapped with neck pain in only 23% of patients. Further, pain across all body regions accounted for nearly twice as much of the variance in pain interference as neck pain alone (60% vs 34%). These findings suggest that studies of post-MVC pain should not focus on neck pain alone.