ABC: časopis urgentne medicine (Jan 2020)

Low back pain treatment in emergency medical service clinic

  • Roganović Nikolina S.,
  • Živanović Slavoljub R.

Journal volume & issue
Vol. 20, no. 2
pp. 29 – 42

Abstract

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Introduction: Lumbar pain is experienced by 80% of people during their lifetime. The most common type of back pain is nonspecific lower back pain, which accounts for approximately 95% of primary health care cases. In approximately 95% of cases, the cause of the pain is unknown even after complete diagnostic tests have been performed. Recurrences are common but complete recovery is usually expected. Most patients with acute lumbar pain are treated by a primary care physician who should inform the patient about the benign nature of the disease and a good prognosis. Objectives: The scope of study was to show the extent to which, in the outpatient clinic of the Institute for Emergency Medical Services Belgrade, we adhere to our current domestic guidelines for good clinical practice and foreign recommendations in the treatment of patients diagnosed with lumbar syndrome. Methodology: The research is a retrospective analysis of electronic medical records from the Institute for EMS Belgrade in the period from January 1, 2017 to December 31, 2018 on 17607 patients. We analyzed the data from our electronic database developed in Microsoft ACCESS. Only patients with one of the diagnoses from the spectrum of lumbar pain syndrome were selected for the study. Results: Results: 246 or 1.4% of patients with a diagnosis of lumbar pain syndrome were found. They were predominantly male patients, ages 19-81. Out of 125 patients with on which Lasègue test performed, 73 were negative and 52 were positive. The given therapy was NSAIDs, most often Diclofenac 93.9%, corticosteroids 47.55% and Diazepam 28.45%, metamizole corticosteroids, given mostly parenterally. Conclusion: In our ambulatory clinic LBP is most often treated with NSAIDs and corticosteroids given parenterally. In most cases, the recommendations from current domestic guidelines for good clinical practice and foreign recommendations are not followed in the treatment of this type of patients.

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