Chronic low back pain patient groups in primary care - A cross sectional cluster analysis

Background: Due to the heterogeneous nature of chronic low back
pain (CLBP), it is necessary to identify patient groups and
evaluate treatments within these groups. We aimed to identify
groups of patients with CLBP in the primary care setting. Methods:
We performed a k-means cluster analysis on a large data set (n =
634) of primary care patients with CLBP. Variables of
sociodemographic data, pain characteristics, psychological status
(i.e., depression, anxiety, somatization), and the patient
resources of resilience and coping strategies were included.
Results: We found three clusters that can be characterized as
``pensioners with age-associated pain caused by degenerative
diseases{''