Chronic Low Back Pain with and without Concomitant Osteoarthritis: A Retrospective, Longitudinal Cohort Study of Patients in England
Table 2
Healthcare resource utilisation in patients with chronic low back pain alone and matched controls.
Healthcare service use
0–6 months
0–12 months
0–24 months†
0–36 months†
Cases (N = 13 554)
Controls (N = 13 554)
Cases (N = 13 554)
Controls (N = 13 554)
Cases (N = 9728)
Controls (N = 9728)
Cases (N = 6724)
Controls (N = 6734)
GP consultation
Mean (SD)
7.39 (5.85)
2.45 (3.54)
13.54 (10.38)
4.94 (6.52)
24.36 (18.52)
9.56 (12.38)
35.09 (26.94)
14.32 (17.61)
Median (IQR)
6 (3–10)
1 (0–3)
11 (7–17)
3 (1–7)
20 (12–31)
7 (2–13)
29 (18–45)
10 (4–19)
Outpatient attendance
Mean (SD)
3.05 (3.69)
0.71 (2.24)
5.61 (6.34)
1.44 (3.84)
9.53 (10.80)
2.80 (6.35)
13.12 (14.44)
4.15 (8.69)
Median (IQR)
2 (1–4)
0 (0–0)
4 (1–8)
0 (0–1)
6 (3–13)
0 (0–3)
9 (4–18)
1 (0–5)
ED visit
Mean (SD)
0.30 (0.89)
0.10 (0.43)
0.57 (1.55)
0.20 (0.67)
1.00 (2.14)
0.38 (0.95)
1.44 (2.91)
0.56 (1.17)
Median (IQR)
0 (0–0)
0 (0–0)
0 (0–1)
0 (0–0)
0 (0–1)
0 (0–0)
1 (0–2)
0 (0–1)
Inpatient stay
Mean (SD)
0.56 (1.28)
0.11 (0.94)
1.00 (2.50)
0.24 (2.02)
1.62 (3.87)
0.46 (3.83)
2.22 (4.57)
0.66 (5.62)
Median (IQR)
0 (0-1)
0 (0-0)
1 (0-1)
0 (0-0)
1 (0–2)
0 (0-0)
1 (0–3)
0 (0-1)
Length of stay, days‡
Mean (SD)
0.86 (5.35)
0.29 (3.90)
1.46 (8.38)
0.60 (5.69)
2.12 (10.60)
1.20 (10.30)
2.83 (11.80)
1.43 (9.99)
Median (IQR)
0 (0-0)
0 (0-0)
0 (0-0)
0 (0-0)
0 (0-1)
0 (0-0)
0 (0-1)
0 (0-0)
Note. < 0.0001 for the difference in mean values between cases and controls for each healthcare service, and across all time periods. Abbreviations: ED, emergency department; GP, general practitioner; IQR, interquartile range; SD, standard deviation. †Not all cases/controls had 24 months of follow-up. ‡Cumulative across all inpatient stays within each time period. Data are for number of attendances unless otherwise indicated.
