Clinical prediction rules in the prognosis of Whiplash Associated Disorder (WAD): A systematic review

Georgopoulos, Vasileios; Taylor, Alan

Abstract

Objectives: To identify, evaluate and ascertain the clinical readiness of prognostic Clinical Prediction Rules (CPRs) in the prognosis of Whiplash Associated Disorder (WAD).

Study design: Systematic review

Background: The scientific basis for management of WAD is to prevent the advancement of acute WAD into chronicity. CPRs are clinical tools which can be utilised to aid accurate diagnosis, provide insight regarding prognosis and implement appropriate treatment procedures. To this day, there are no studies that have systematically attempted to pool together existing WAD-related CPRs and examine their clinical value.

Methods: A combination of sensitive and proposed search strategies was used for locating articles for CPRs and WAD across MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, AMED, PsychINFO and Index of Chiropractic Literature databases from their establishment date till April 2015. Hand-searching of relevant journals and citation tracking were used to maximise the identified study pool.

Results: Prognostic studies examining the clinical value of CPRs regardless of their development stage (derivation, validation, and impact-analysis) were eligible for inclusion. 1877 records were assessed with three studies comprising the final study sample. The three included studies described the development of three prognostic CPRs. Two out of three studies were derivation studies of one or more CPRs. There were no identified studies investigating the clinical impact of developed rules.

Conclusions: This review delivers contemporary information and offers new insights into the evolution of WAD-related CPRs. The findings suggest that the current CPRs for WAD, require further development before they can confidently be incorporated into clinical decision making.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jun 1, 2016
• Online Publication Date: Jun 1, 2016
• Publication Date: Jun 1, 2016
• Deposit Date: Nov 3, 2023
• Journal: Pain and Rehabilitation
• Print ISSN: 2051-0047
• Publisher: Physiotherapy Pain Association
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 2016
• Issue: 41
• Pages: 5-16
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/24149522
• Publisher URL: https://www.ingentaconnect.com/contentone/ppa/pr/2016/00002016/00000041/art00003