United Kingdom back pain exercise and manipulation (UK BEAM) trial: What happened to participants who were not included in analysis?

doi:10.1136/bmj.330.7492.674

BMJ 2005;330:674 (19 March), doi:10.1136/bmj.330.7492.674

Letter

United Kingdom back pain exercise and manipulation (UK BEAM) trial

What happened to participants who were not included in analysis?

EDITOR—The UK BEAM Trial Team has produced a broad pieceof research that has attempted to answer many questions aboutmanaging chronic back pain all at the same time.¹ However, Ifind it difficult to understand how any conclusions can be drawnfrom the published results if 25% of the study population werenot included in the analysis (23% at three months and 26% at12 months).

Knowing what happened to these participants would be helpfulbecause any conclusions drawn from the remaining data withoutan intention to treat analysis severely weaken what is a bravepiece of research.

Richard Tillett, senior primary care physiotherapist, Mid Devon Primary Care Trust

Blackdown Practice, Hemyock, Devon EX15 3SF rtillett{at}breathe.com

Competing interests: None declared.

References

UK BEAM Trial Team. United Kingdom back pain exercise and manipulation (UK BEAM) randomised trial: effectiveness of physical treatments for back pain in primary care. BMJ 2004;329: 1377-81. (11 December.)[Abstract/Free Full Text]

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United Kingdom back pain exercise and manipulation (UK BEAM) randomised trial: effectiveness of physical treatments for back pain in primary care: UK BEAM Trial Team
BMJ 2004 329: 1377. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]