SynthesisOccupational and environmental medicine2019
Systematic review of prognostic factors for work participation in patients with sciatica.
Synthesis in Occupational and environmental medicine, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Incidence of and risk factors for lumbar disc herniation with radiculopathy in adults: a systematic review.European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society · 2025Pooled it
- Predictors of return to work after spinal surgery : systematic review and Meta-analysis.Journal of orthopaedic surgery and research · 2024Pooled it
- The efficacy and safety of acupuncture therapy for sciatica: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trails.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2023Pooled it
- The Dutch Multidisciplinary Occupational Health Guideline to Enhance Work Participation Among Low Back Pain and Lumbosacral Radicular Syndrome Patients.Journal of occupational rehabilitation · 2022Guideline
- Biopsychosocial Factors for Chronicity in Individuals with Non-Specific Low Back Pain: An Umbrella Review.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Pooled it
- Labor market participation among patients referred to occupational medicine with low-back pain: a Danish nationwide register-based cohort study.Scandinavian journal of work, environment & health · 2026Article
- Assessment of Work Ability in People with Musculoskeletal Disorders in Primary Health Care: A Scoping Review of Self-Reported Tools.Journal of occupational rehabilitation · 2025Article
- Prospects of returning to work after lumbar spine surgery for patients considering disability pension: a nationwide study based on data from the Norwegian Registry for Spine Surgery.Occupational and environmental medicine · 2023Article
- Acupoint catgut embedding for the treatment of sciatica: A protocol for a systematic review.Medicine · 2021Article
- Herpes zoster in patients with sciatica.BMC musculoskeletal disorders · 2020Article
- Psychosocial determinants predicting long-term sickness absence: a register-based cohort study.Journal of epidemiology and community health · 2020Article
- What do people search online about sciatica? What answers do they get from Dr. Google? A mixed analysis of Italian web-based data.Archives of physiotherapyArticle
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Sciatica impacts on the ability to work and may lead to a reduced return to work. This study reviewed and summarised prognostic factors of work participation in patients who received conservative or surgical treatment for clinically diagnosed sciatica. We searched MEDLINE, CINAHL, EMBASE and PsycINFO until January 2018. Cohort studies, using a measure of work participation as outcome, were included. Two independent reviewers performed study inclusion and used the Quality In Prognosis Studies tool for risk of bias assessment and GRADE to rate the quality of the evidence. Based on seven studies describing six cohorts (n=1408 patients) that assessed 21 potential prognostic factors, favourable factors for return to work (follow-up ranging from 3 months to 10 years) included younger age, better general health, less low back pain or sciatica bothersomeness, better physical function, negative straight leg raise-test, physician expecting surgery to be beneficial, better pain coping, less depression and mental stress, less fear of movement and low physical work load. Study results could not be pooled. Using GRADE, the quality of the evidence ranged from moderate to very low, with downgrading mainly for a high risk of bias and imprecision. Several prognostic factors like pain, disability and psychological factors were identified and reviewed, and these could be targeted using additional interventions to optimise return to work. PROSPERO registration number: CRD42016042497.
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