Application of variance ratios to assess heterogeneity of spinal manipulative therapy for chronic low back pain: A meta‐epidemiological study
There were no significant differences in the variability of pain and function outcomes for SMT groups compared to sham SMT groups for chronic low back pain. This suggests there is no evidence the distribution around the mean estimate is different between interventions at all time points and does not support the potential for heterogeneity of treatment effect in this population. Nevertheless, we cannot conclusively rule out heterogeneity of treatment effect using variance ratios alone. This study provides an example of how using variance ratios in meta-analyses and RCTs can add other statistically and clinically meaningful findings.
Authors
- Pradeep Suri (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9449-4165)
- Andrew T. Humbert (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3512-2780)
- Annemarie de Zoete (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1421-3862)
- Carina A. Staab
- Sean D. Rundell (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0782-5999)
- Sidney M. Rubinstein (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4819-994X)
- Adam Babitts
Institutions
- National University of Natural Medicine (US)
- University of Washington (US)
- Erasmus MC (NL)
- VA Puget Sound Health Care System (US)
- Department of Health (ZA)
- Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (NL)
- Erasmus University Rotterdam (NL)
Publication Details
- Journal
- PM&R
- Published
- 2025-12-30
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1002/pmrj.70057
- Primary Topic
- Musculoskeletal pain and rehabilitation
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- National Institutes of Health
- National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences
- National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health