The epidemiology and medical management of low back pain during ambulatory medical care visits in the United States

Licciardone, John C

doi:10.1186/1750-4732-2-11

Table 3 Patient Visits for Low Back Pain According to Chronicity, 2003–2004 (n = 1,062)*

From: The epidemiology and medical management of low back pain during ambulatory medical care visits in the United States

	Chronicity
	Acute Problem (Initial Visit)				Chronic Problem (Follow-Up Visit)				Chronic Problem Visits		Primary Chronic Problem Visits†
Characteristic	n	NPE	SE	%	n	NPE	SE	%	OR‡	95% CI	OR‡	95% CI
Patient age, y
<25	49	2,012	287	13	26	836§	197	3	0.27	0.13-0.55	0.20	0.09-0.45
25–44	112	5,351	565	34	195	7,920	907	29	1.00	...	1.00	...
45–64	123	5,157	597	33	287	11,025	1,867	40	1.27	0.84-1.93	1.24	0.81-1.91
≥ 65	80	3,237	542	21	190	7,585	1,110	28	1.42	0.84-2.40	1.29	0.66-2.50
Patient sex
Female	218	9,242	757	59	400	15,815	1,684	58	1.00	...	1.00	...
Male	146	6,515	775	41	298	11,551	1,463	42	1.17	0.79-1.73	1.22	0.81-1.85
Patient race
White	329	13,955	966	89	619	24,498	2,821	90	1.00	...	1.00	...
Non-White	35	1,802	404	11	79	2,867	554	10	1.03	0.60-1.76	0.85	0.45-1.60
Patient ethnicity
Non-Hispanic	326	14,164	984	90	642	25,299	2,718	92	1.00	...	1.00	...
Hispanic	38	1,593	334	10	56	2,066	386	8	0.74	0.42-1.32	0.86	0.41-1.77
Geographic region
Northeast	91	3,494	363	22	211	9,671	2,386	35	1.00	...	1.00	...
Midwest	76	3,189	495	20	133	3,918	452	14	0.65	0.40-1.08	0.66	0.33-1.32
South	131	5,775	670	37	201	7,569	848	28	0.86	0.52-1.40	0.90	0.51-1.61
West	66	3,299	460	21	153	6,207	1,214	23	1.23	0.62-2.46	1.03	0.45-2.38
MSA status
MSA	307	13,706	1,113	87	588	24,113	2,917	88	1.00	...	1.00	...
Non-MSA	57	2,050	572	13	110	3,252	973	12	1.16	0.67-1.99	1.05	0.58-1.92
IPA etiology
No	224	9,611	860	61	518	20,345	1,874	74	1.00	...	1.00	...
Yes	140	6,146	586	39	180	7,020	1,350	26	0.46	0.31-0.67	0.49	0.32-0.75
PCP status
Non-PCP or unknown	170	4,733	518	30	437	13,841	2,151	51	1.00	...	1.00	...
PCP	194	11,024	963	70	261	13,524	1,366	49	0.45	0.26-0.79	0.48	0.25-0.90
Type of physician
Doctor of Medicine	299	13,656	932	87	497	18,256	1,623	67	1.00	...	1.00
Doctor of Osteopathy	65	2,101	285	13	201	9,109	2,402	33	4.39	2.47-7.80	4.08	2.26-7.36
Physician specialty
Family (general) medicine	163	7,990	768	51	227	10,248	1,341	37	0.58	0.31-1.07	0.64	0.31-1.32
Internal medicine	42	3,611	560	23	80	7162§	2,603	26	0.97	0.48-1.95	0.98	0.40-2.39
Neurology	36	287	63	2	129	1,283	262	5	1.41	0.67-2.94	0.91	0.34-2.45
Orthopedics	44	1,064	166	7	81	2,279	407	8	0.89	0.48-1.65	1.17	0.50-2.73
All other specialties	79	2,804	372	18	181	6,394	1,096	23	1.00	...	1.00	...
Shared physician care
No or unknown	283	13,096	1,008	83	448	19,240	2,565	70	1.00	...	1.00	...
Yes	81	2,661	401	17	250	8,125	960	30	2.11	1.30-3.44	2.15	1.18-3.93
Total	364	15,757	1,018	100	698	27,365	2,844	100		...		...

Abbreviations: CI, confidence interval; IPA, injury, poisoning, or adverse effect of medical treatment; MSA, metropolitan statistical area; NPE, national population estimate for the two-year interval; OR, odds ratio; PCP, primary care physician, SE, standard error of the national population estimate.
*Table entries for NPE and SE are in thousands; percentages are based on NPE.
†Includes only patient visits in which low back pain was the primary reason for seeking medical care (n = 710).
‡Adjusted for all variables shown.
§NPE may be unreliable because n<30 or SE>30% of NPE.

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