Prevalence of low back ache in a tertiary care naval hospital

Abstract

Background: A low back ache (LBA) is a common cause of outpatient referral which might lead to loss of man hours in service hospitals. In this survey we attempt to determine the proportion of all new referrals of LBA back pain across different specialities and possibly delineate patterns of their management at a tertiary care Naval Hospital. Materials & Methods: This was a retrospective cross-sectional study which was conducted from 30 Jun to 15 July 14 at INHS Asvini in 11,673 patients who had visited various Departments including Rheumatology/Orthopaedic/Neurosurgery OPD over preceding 06 months ie. from 01 Jan 14 to 30 Jun 14. Results: Participants were men and women aged 20–70 years with a history of LBA pain for at least 3 months and a visual analogue scale (VAS) score of at least 30 in the previous week. The overall prevalence of LBA was 46.77% in patient population reporting to above named Departments. Conclusion: The proportion of patients with low backache who needed tertiary care treatment including biological or Spinal surgery was approx.0.38% and 1.28% respectively.

Keywords

• Low backache
• VAS: visual analogue scale
• ROM: range of movements