Prognostic factors in non-surgically treated sciatica: A systematic review

Table 5 Prognostic factors reported in 3 or more studies and their association with poor outcome

Prognostic factor studied	Positive association with poor outcome	No association
Socio-demographic/individual
Older age	0	6 [12, 13, 15, 16, 18, 19]
Gender	0	5 [12–14, 18, 19]
Previous sciatica	0	3 [12, 13, 18]
Smoking	0	4 [12, 14, 18, 19]
Higher BMI/obesity (15% overweight)	0	3 [12, 15, 18]
Clinical (symptoms & signs)
Longer duration of symptoms	1 [18]	3 [12, 13, 15]
Baseline pain/symptom severity	1 [13*]	2 [12, 18]
Neurological deficit	1 [12]	3 [14, 15, 18]
Nerve root tension signs	1 [18]	2 [12, 14]
Clinical (radiological findings)
Level of disc herniation	0	5 [12–16]
Smaller disc prolapse	1 [15]	3 [12–14]
Occupational
Heaviness of work	0	3 [14, 15, 19]

* Beauvais et al [13] reported that pain/symptom severity sufficient to require inpatient treatment was associated with poor outcome.
NB Komori et al [17] is excluded from this table due to poor methodological quality

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