Low Back Pain in General Practice: patient profile

Introduction: Low back pain is the second most frequent symptom prompting people to consult a physician (after upper respiratory airway disorders), but it is difficult to analyse because of its high diagnostic variability and uncertain classification. Objective: To define the characteristic profile of people with low back pain in the field of general practice. Methods: This longitudinal study was based on the information contained in the Health Search database, which was collected by means of a computer network system and concerned the clinical activities of two groups of general practitioners: an experimental group (Abruzzo) that had participated in a study of a low back pain diagnostic and therapeutic protocol and a control group not involved in the study. The data refer to the period 2000–2003. The number of cases observed was 5290, divided into five diagnostic categories: low back pain, discopathy, radiculopathy, facet syndrome, and other. The characteristic patient profile was evaluated by means of a logistic regression model, with diagnosis as the outcome variable (see table). Results and conclusions: The incidence of low back pain in 2003 was 31.1 cases per 1000/year in the Abruzzo sample and 54.2 in the control sample. The distribution of the patients by diagnosis indicates that low back pain is more probable in younger patients, while radiculopathy and discopathy become more likely with increasing age. The duration of symptoms and the probability of undergoing instrumental examinations were less in the patients with low back pain than in those with the other two specific diagnoses (table 1)