Table 2.

Factors leading to improved 4-year outcomes (greater ODI change) based on treatment method (p < 0.05) [12, 17, 18]

Treatment	Factor	p value
		Surgery	Nonoperative
Nonoperative	No hypertension		0.042
	Single		< 0.001
Surgery	Predominantly leg pain (vs back pain)	0.002
	Sensation intact (vs sensory deficit)	0.046
	Posterolateral herniation (vs other location)	< 0.001
	No physical therapy	0.036
	Sequestered herniation (vs extruded or protruding)	0.004
	Married (vs divorced/widowed)	< 0.001
Either surgery or nonoperative	Increasing ODI	< 0.001	< 0.001
	Lower SBI (≤ 16)	0.001	0.006
	Lower BMI (< 30), nonobese	< 0.001	0.034
	No joint problems	< 0.001	0.005
	Not depressed	< 0.001	< 0.001
	No other comorbidities	< 0.001	< 0.001
	No stomach problems	< 0.001	< 0.001
	Problem getting better	< 0.001	< 0.001
	No opioid use	0.001	0.005
	No antidepressant use	< 0.001	0.002
	Nonsmoker	< 0.001	< 0.001
	White race (vs black, other)	0.004	< 0.001
	Income > USD 50,000	< 0.001	< 0.001
	Baseline SF-36 MCS >35	< 0.001	< 0.001
	Symptoms ≤ 6 months	< 0.001	0.006
	≤ 6 weeks’ duration	< 0.001	< 0.001
	No missed work	0.015	0.04
	No prior injections	< 0.001	0.001
	Insured	< 0.001	0.019
	No litigation	< 0.001	<0.001
	No lifting at work	< 0.001	<0.001
	No workers compensation	< 0.001	<0.001
	At least some college or more	< 0.001	<0.001

ODI = Oswestry Disability Index; SBI = Sciatica Bothersomeness Index; MCS = mental component summary.