Prognosis of XXXX is poor: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

@entity1 @entity12761 @entity158
OBJECTIVE: To conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis on the prognosis of @entity12761 and disability. DATA SOURCES: EMBASE, CINAHL, Medline, AMED, PEDro, and CENTRAL were searched from inception to July 2009, limited to @entity1 studies. Reference lists of relevant systematic reviews were searched by hand. Search terms included: neck @entity158 , prognosis, inception, cohort, longitudinal, observational, or prospective study and randomized controlled trial. STUDY SELECTION: Eligible studies were longitudinal cohort studies and randomized controlled trials with a no treatment or minimal treatment arm that recruited an inception cohort of @entity12761 and reported @entity158 or disability outcomes. Eligibility was determined by 2 authors independently. Seven of 20,085 references were included. DATA EXTRACTION: @entity158 and disability data were extracted independently by 2 authors. Risk of bias was assessed independently by 2 authors. DATA SYNTHESIS: Statistical pooling showed a weighted mean @entity158 score (0-100) of 64 (95% confidence interval [CI], 61-67) at onset and 35 (95% CI, 32-38) at 6.5 weeks. At 12 months, neck @entity158 severity remained high at 42 (95% CI, 39-45). Disability reduced from a pooled weighted mean score (0-100) at onset of 30 (95% CI, 28-32) to 17 (95% CI, 15-19) by 6.5 weeks, without further improvement at 12 months. Studies varied in length of follow-up, design, and sample size. CONCLUSIONS: This review provides Level I evidence that the prognosis of @entity12761 is worse than currently recognized. This evidence can guide primary care clinicians when providing prognostic information to @entity1 . Further research to identify prognostic factors and long-term outcomes from inception cohorts would be valuable.
