Relationships between improvement in physical function, pain interference, and mental health in musculoskeletal patients

Importance Among patients seeking care for musculoskeletal conditions, there is mixed evidence regarding whether traditional, structure-based care is associated with improvement in patients’ mental health. Objective To determine whether improvements in physical function and pain interference are associated with meaningful improvements in anxiety and depression symptoms among patients seeking musculoskeletal care. Design Retrospective cohort study from June 22, 2015 to February 9, 2022. Setting Orthopedic department of a tertiary care US academic medical center. Participants Consecutive sample of adult patients who presented to the musculoskeletal clinic 4 to 6 times during the study period and completed Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) measures as standard care at each visit. Exposure PROMIS Physical Function and Pain Interference scores. Main Outcomes and Measures Linear mixed effects models were used to determine whether: 1) PROMIS Anxiety and 2) PROMIS Depression scores improved as a function of improved PROMIS Physical Function or Pain Interference scores, after controlling for age, gender, race, and PROMIS Depression (for the Anxiety model) and PROMIS Anxiety (for the Depression model). Clinically meaningful improvement was defined as ≥3.0 points for PROMIS Anxiety and ≥3.2 points for PROMIS Depression. Results Among 11,236 patients (mean [SD] age 57 [16] years), 9,706 (86%) were White, and 7,218 (64%) were women. Improvements in physical function (β=-0.14 [95% CI -0.15– -0.13], p<0.001) and pain interference (β=0.26 [0.25-0.26], p<0.001) were each associated with improved anxiety symptoms. To reach a clinically meaningful improvement in anxiety symptoms, an improvement of ≥21 [20-23] PROMIS points on Physical Function or ≥12 [12-12] points on Pain Interference would be required. Improvements in physical function (β=-0.05 [- 0.06– -0.04], p<0.001) and pain interference (β=0.04 [0.04-0.05], p<0.001) were not associated with meaningfully improved depression symptoms. Conclusions and Relevance In this cohort study, substantial improvements in physical function and pain interference were required for association with any clinically meaningful improvement in anxiety symptoms and were not associated with any meaningful improvement in depression symptoms. Among patients seeking musculoskeletal care, musculoskeletal clinicians and patients cannot assume that addressing physical health will result in improved symptoms of depression or potentially even sufficiently improved symptoms of anxiety. Key Points Question Among patients seeking musculoskeletal care, are improvements in physical function and pain interference associated with meaningful changes in symptoms of anxiety and depression? Findings In this large cohort study, improvement by ≥2.3 population-level standard deviations (SD) on PROMIS Physical Function or ≥1.2 SD on PROMIS Pain Interference were required for any association with meaningful improvement in anxiety symptoms. Improvements in physical function and pain interference were not associated with meaningfully improved depression symptoms. Meaning Musculoskeletal clinicians and patients cannot assume that exclusively addressing the physical aspect of a musculoskeletal condition will improve symptoms of depression or potentially even anxiety.