Predictors of Pain Management Strategies in Adults with Low-Back Pain: A Secondary Analysis of Amazon Mechanical Turk Survey Data

Objective: To evaluate the associations between baseline demographics, health conditions, pain management strategies, and health-related quality-of-life (HRQoL) measures with pain management strategies at 3-month follow-up in respondents reporting current low-back pain (LBP).Study design: Cohort study of survey data collected from adults with LBP sampled from Amazon Mechanical Turk crowdsourcing panel.Methods: Demographics, health conditions, and the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS)-10 were included in the baseline survey. Respondents reporting LBP completed a more comprehensive survey inquiring about pain management strategies and several HRQoL measures. Bivariate then multivariate logistic regression estimated odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for the association between baseline characteristics and pain management utilization at 3-month follow-up. Model fit statistics were evaluated to assess the predictive value.Results: The final cohort included 717 respondents with completed surveys. The most prevalent pain management strategy at follow-up was other care (n = 474), followed by no care (n = 94), conservative care only (n = 76), medical care only (n = 51), and medical and conservative care combined (n = 22). The conservative care only group had higher (better) mental and physical health PROMIS-10 scores as opposed to the medical care only and combination care groups, which had lower (worse) physical health scores. In multivariate models, estimated ORs (95% CIs) for the association between baseline and follow-up pain management ranged from 4.6 (2.7-7.8) for conservative care only to 16.8 (6.9-40.7) for medical care only. Additional significant baseline predictors included age, income, education, workman's compensation claim, Oswestry Disability Index score, and Global Chronic Pain Scale grade.Conclusions: This study provides important information regarding the association between patient characteristics, HRQoL measures, and LBP-related pain management utilization.