STUDY DESIGN Multicenter, prospective, longitudinal cohort study. OBJECTIVES To investigate the minimum important difference (MID) of the Patient-Specific Functional Scale (PSFS), 4 region-specific outcome measures, and the numeric pain rating scale (NPRS) across 3 levels of patient-perceived global rating of change in a clinical setting. BACKGROUND The MID varies depending on the external ...

Background. Pediatric chronic pain is considered to be a multidimensional construct that includes biological, psychological, and social components. Methods. The 99 enrolled study patients (mean age 13.2 years, 71% female, 81% Caucasian) and an accompanying parent completed a series of health-related questionnaires at the time of their initial appointment in a pediatric chronic pain medicine cli...

BACKGROUND We sought to examine prospectively the difference in the association between incident functional disability and exercise with or without sports organization participation. METHODS The study was based on the Aichi Gerontological Evaluation Study (AGES) Cohort Study data. In October 2003, self-reported questionnaires were mailed to 29,374 non-disabled Japanese individuals aged 65 yea...

OBJECTIVE The current study examined the associations between catastrophizing and pain intensity, psychological adjustment, functional ability, and community participation in youths with physical disability and chronic pain. METHODS Participants consisted of 80 youths, aged 8-20 years, with cerebral palsy (n = 34), neuromuscular disease (n = 22), or spina bifida (n = 24). Measures from a cros...

OBJECTIVE The aim of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of the different types of epidural injections (EI) to prevent surgical intervention in patients suffering from chronic sciatica due to lumbar disc herniation (LDH). MATERIAL AND METHODS Studies were identified by searching PubMed, MEDLINE, and Google Scholar to retrieve all available relevant articles. Lists of references of several ...

PURPOSE We compared the prevalence of disability among older American Indians and Alaska Natives (AI/ANs) with that among their African American and White peers, then examined sociodemographic characteristics associated with disability among AI/ANs. DESIGN AND METHODS We analyzed the 5% 2000 Census Public Use Microdata Sample. We assessed disability by functional limitation, mobility disabili...

UNLABELLED Multiple sclerosis is a neurological disease that involves swallowing disorders. Many studies have shown an association between neurological and swallowing performance, but results have been conflicting. OBJECTIVE To identify the frequency of dysphagia in patients with multiple sclerosis and neurological indicators that can represent the performance of swallowing. METHOD In this ...

BACKGROUND There are limited data on the prevalence and causes of disability in the elderly general population in Japan. METHODS In a population-based cross-sectional study of 1550 Japanese aged 65 years or older, we examined the prevalence of functional disability (defined as a Barthel Index score of ≤95) and its causes. RESULTS A total of 311 of the participants had a disability (prevalen...

We documented the types and degree of functional disability in 74 patients with AIDS at the Hospital de Clínicas of the Federal University of Paraná, Brazil. Few of these patients are referred for rehabilitation services and there is only a limited team approach in their care. We found that 91% of the patients had some degree of functional impairment; in 81% the complaint was weakness and in 47...