Potential Moderators of the effect of Cognitive Functional Therapy on clinical outcomes in individuals with chronic low back pain: Exploratory analysis of a randomised controlled trial

In this secondary analysis of an RCT [14] which examined the effect of CFT on clinical outcomes compared to a group exercise and education intervention, we found that general health (moderate effect), socioeconomic status and sex (weak effect) are potential moderators of disability, with individuals with poorer general health, lower socioeconomic standing, and of female sex, getting superior effects in the CFT arm. We found that general health and number of pain sites (moderate effect) were potential moderators of pain intensity, with individuals with poorer general health and low number of pain sites getting superior effects in the CFT group. For disability, we found no evidence that age, duration of CLBP, risk of chronicity, number of pain sites had a moderating effect. For pain, we found no evidence that age, duration of CLBP, socioeconomic status, and risk of chronicity had a moderating effect.Dr Mary O'Keeffe is supported by funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 75049