<There have been a number of studies on the incidence and severity of
back pain in the developed world.
Canada
Incidence of back pain.
64% of adult Canadians reported back pain in the last year. The
incidence of back pain did not significantly vary across regional or
demographic groups. Of those that had not experienced back pain in the
last year, 44% had experienced pain at some time.
Of those that had experienced pain, 45% had experienced pain between
one and two years ago. 25% had experienced pain three to five years
ago and 27% more than five years ago.
In the past two years, 71% of adult Canadians had experienced pain.
Duration of back pain.
A few hours/less than 1 day ? 22%
1 to 2 days ? 20%
More than 2 days/less than 1 week ? 12%
1 week ? 7%
More than 1 week/less than 1 month ? 8%
1 month ? 2%
More than 1 month/less than 6 months ? 6%
6 months to less than 1 year ? 2%
1 to 2 years ? 3%
Continuous ? 16%
Don?t know/na ? 1%
Severity of back pain
Mild ? 30%
Moderate ? 48%
Severe ? 21%
Don?t know ? 1%
This study also looks at the causes of back pain and the number of
working days lost.
(Source: Survey of Canadian Adults: Back Pain. Environics Research
Group. May 2003.)
http://www.ccachiro.org/client/cca/cca.nsf/object/Back+Pain/$file/5360+back+pain.pdf
------------------------------------------------
United States.
US 2002 survey.
According to a survey sponsored by the American Academy of Physical
Medicine and Rehabilitation (AAPM&R), 54% of Americans have back pain.
56% report that the back pain interferes with their daily activities,
such as work, schools or leisure activities.
http://www.pcipr.com/newsroom/AAPMandR/20020821_surveyFact.asp
75-84% of all people will experience some form of back pain during
their lifetime. Approximately 1% of the United States population is
chronically disabled due to back pain and 1% is temporarily disabled.
(Source: National Center for Health Statistics, National Health
Interview Survey, 1995 in Praemer, A; Furner, S; Rice, DP:
Musculoskeletal Conditions in the United States, published by the
American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, Rosemont, IL, 1999.
http://www.usbjd.org/about/index.cfm?pg=fast.cfm
According to a survey sponsored by Stanford University Medical Center,
ABC News and USA Today, 25% of respondents suffer from back pain.
1,204 people were surveyed.
(Source: Physical pain regularly torments majority of Americans,
survey finds by Tonya Clayton. Stanford Report, May 11, 2005)
http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2005/may11/med-pain-051105.html
Back pain is number one across most demographic groups with the
exception of women under 50. (Source: ABC News)
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/PainManagement/story?id=732395
Full questionnaire and results. (Source: ABC News)
http://abcnews.go.com/images/Politics/979a1TheFightAgainstPain.pdf
-------------------------------------------------------
European Commission study
53% of the referred Norwegian population reported lower back pain
during the previous year. (Natvig B, Nessioy I, Bruusgaard D, Rutle O.
Musculoskeletal symptoms in a local community. Eur J Gen Pr 1995;
1:25-28).
Between 58% and 84% of people have ever suffered back pain (Dionne CE.
Low Back Pain. In: Crombie IK, Croft P, Linton S, Le Resche L, Von
Korff M. editors. Epidemiology of pain. Seattle: IASP Press 1999:
283-297.).
http://europa.eu.int/comm/health/ph_projects/2000/monitoring/fp_monitoring_2000_frep_01_en.pdf
UK
The 2005 Pain Survey carried out by the British Pain Society,
questioned 975 people.
The survey found that 27% were suffering back pain. Of those
experiencing pain on a daily basis, 32% said it was due to back pain.
http://www.britishpainsociety.org/pdf/Pain%20Survey%202005%20press%20release.pdf
Media notes.
http://www.britishpainsociety.org/pdf/NOP%20Pain%20Survey%20fact%20sheet%20final.pdf
Northern Ireland
This 2001 study by The Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency
(NISRA) focused on back pain.
Respondents were asked if they had ever consulted a doctor regarding back pain.
Overall, 39% of men and 42% of women had consulted a doctor regarding back pain.
Respondents from a manual occupational background were more likely to
have consulted a doctor regarding back pain (44%) than those from a
non-manual occupational background (40%).
Approximately a fifth (21%) of respondents had experienced severe back
pain in the previous 12 months. Women were more likely than men to
have reported severe back pain (22% and 18% respectively).
http://www.csu.nisra.gov.uk/newsroom/press_details.asp?id=15
Scotland
This study shows back pain by age.
25 to 34 ? 12%
35 to 44 ? 16%
45 to 54 ? 17%
55 to 84 ? 18%
65 to 74 ? 15%
over 75 ? 15%
(Source: Bandolier)
http://www.jr2.ox.ac.uk/bandolier/band70/b70-3.html
This UK study found that the 1-month prevalence of low back pain was
39% (35% in males, 42 % in females).Papageorgiou AC, Croft PR, Ferry
S, Jayson MI, Silman AJ: Estimating the prevalence of low back pain in
the general population. Evidence from the South Manchester Back Pain
Survey.
Spine 1995, 20:1889-1894.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=8560337&dopt=Abstract&holding=f1000>
----------------------------------------------------------
<Search strategy:>
<"back pain" respondents>
<://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22back+pain%22+respondents>
<"back pain" severity respondents>
<://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22back+pain%22+severity+respondents>
<"incidence of Back Pain" "review of">
<://www.google.com/search?q=%22incidence+of+Back+Pain%22+%22review+of%22&hl=en&lr=&rls=GGLD,GGLD:2005-17,GGLD:en&start=10&sa=N>
<"incidence of Back Pain" european commission>
<://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&rls=GGLD%2CGGLD%3A2005-17%2CGGLD%3Aen&q=%22incidence+of+Back+Pain%22+european+commission>
<Hope this helps.> |
Clarification of Answer by
belindalevez-ga
on
19 Dec 2005 23:39 PST
<This study reviews the literature describing lower back pain point
prevalence in the developed world.
Point prevalence
North America ? 6.8%
Sweden ? 12%
Denmark ? 13.7%
United Kingdom ? 14%
Belgium ? 33%
Canada ? 28.4%
Australia ? 25.5%
(Source: The epidemiology of low back pain in primary care. Peter M
Kent and Jennifer L Keating.)
http://www.chiroandosteo.com/content/13/1/13
According to this article most international studies of adult back pain report a
point prevalence of 15?30%, a 1-month prevalence of 19?43%, and a lifetime
prevalence of 60?70%.
(Source: Nachemson AL, Waddell G, Norlund AL, Epidemiology of neck and
low back pain. In:Nachemson AL, Jonsson E. (eds). Neck and back pain:
the scientific evidence of causes,
diagnosis and treatment. Philadelphia: Lippincott, Williams and
Wilkins; 2000, p165?88)
http://www.nzma.org.nz/journal/118-1215/1482/content.pdf
This study gives lower back pain point prevalence rates for Denmark,
UK, USA, Canada and Belgium depicted as a graph (see figure 2 below).
(Source: The Prevalence of Low Back Pain in Adults: A Methodological
Review of the Literature. Patricia L Loney and Paul W Stratford.)
http://www.ptjournal.org/PTJournal/April1999/Apr99/v79n4p384.cfm
Figure 2.
http://www.ptjournal.org/PTJournal/April1999/Apr99/v79n4p384-figs.cfm#f2
------------------------------------------------------
Australia
This survey randomly sampled 3000 Australian adults selected from the
Electoral Roll.
Summary of results.
Sample point prevalence ? 25.6%
12 month prevalence ? 67.6%
Lifetime prevalence ? 79.2%
In the previous 6 month period, 42.6% has experienced low-intensity
pain and low disability from it. 10.9% had experienced high intensity
pain and low diability and 10.5% had high-disability.
(Source: Low back pain in Australian adults: prevalence and associated
disability. Walker BF, Muller R, Grant WD. J Manipulative Physiol
Ther. 2004 May; 27(4):238-44.)
http://www.coca.com.au/newsletter/2004/jun0419aa.htm
--------------------------------------------------------------
South Africa
According to this report, in adults the life time prevalence of lower
back pain is 70 to 80% in adults. The study found a lifetime
prevalence of 52.6% , one year prevalence of 50% and point prevalence
of 14.7% in adolescents.
(Source: Prevalence of and Risk Factors for Low Back Pain in Adolescents.
Ronél Jordaan (University of Pretoria), M Kruger (University of
Pretoria), AV Stewart (University of the Witwatersrand), PJ Becker
(Medical Research Council, South Africa))
http://www.physiosa.org.za/congress2005/documents/jordaan-risk%20factors.doc
---------------------------------------------------------------
New Zealand.
This study looks at prevalence of lower back pain in nurses in
Auckland. It found lifetime prevalence of back pain was 74.4%. The
lifetime prevalence of nursing-related back pain was 62.3%; the annual
prevalence was 36.8%; and the point prevalence was 11.6%. (Source:
Prevalence of back pain among nurses. Coggan C, Norton R, Roberts I,
Hope V. N Z Med J. 1994 Aug 10;107(983):306-8.)
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=8052464&dopt=Abstract
---------------------------------------------------------------
Denmark
This study found that 1-year period prevalence of low back pain was
very similar to that for the lifetime prevalence; both started at 7%
for the 12-year-old individuals and reached 56% and 67% respectively,
for the 41-year-old individuals.
(Source: At what age does low back pain become a common problem? A
study of 29,424 individuals aged 12-41 years. Leboeuf-Yde C, Kyvik KO.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=9474731&dopt=Citation
<Additional links:>
<UK study - A school-based survey of recurrent non-specific low-back
pain prevalence and consequences in children.>
<http://her.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/19/3/284>
<Hope this helps.>
|
