Chronic Low Back Pain with and without Concomitant Osteoarthritis: A Retrospective, Longitudinal Cohort Study of Patients in England
Table 3
Healthcare resource utilisation in patients with chronic low back pain + osteoarthritis and matched controls.
Healthcare service use
0–6 months
0–12 months
0–24 months†
0–36 months†
Cases (N = 7803)
Controls (N = 7803)
Cases (N = 7803)
Controls (N = 7803)
Cases (N = 5406)
Controls (N = 5406)
Cases (N = 3482)
Controls (N = 3482)
GP consultation
Mean (SD)
8.50 (6.30)
3.18 (3.95)
16.23 (11.51)
6.44 (7.22)
30.59 (20.78)
12.74 (12.97)
44.44 (28.58)
19.00 (18.74)
Median (IQR)
7 (4–11)
2 (0–5)
14 (9–21)
4 (2–9)
26 (17–39)
10 (4–17)
38 (25–56)
14 (7–25)
Outpatient attendance
Mean (SD)
4.17 (4.66)
0.93 (2.30)
7.87 (7.72)
1.93 (4.22)
14.07 (12.70)
3.83 (7.44)
19.77 (17.31)
5.70 (10.78)
Median (IQR)
3 (1–6)
0 (0-1)
6 (3–11)
0 (0–2)
11 (6–19)
1 (0–5)
16 (8–26)
2 (0–7)
ED visit
Mean (SD)
0.29 (0.73)
0.10 (0.38)
0.55 (1.20)
0.20 (0.59)
1.03 (2.15)
0.39 (0.94)
1.50 (2.81)
0.55 (1.09)
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)
0.69 (0.98)
0.17 (1.60)
1.25 (1.63)
0.35 (3.20)
2.22 (2.68)
0.67 (6.11)
3.06 (3.23)
0.96 (8.32)
Median (IQR)
0 (0-1)
0 (0-0)
1 (0–2)
0 (0-0)
2 (1–3)
0 (0-1)
2 (1–4)
0 (0-1)
Length of stay, days‡
Mean (SD)
1.32 (5.34)
0.45 (5.80)
2.52 (9.03)
0.90 (7.13)
4.44 (13.19)
1.65 (10.42)
6.05 (18.51)
2.27 (11.38)
Median (IQR)
0 (0–0)
0 (0–0)
0 (0–2)
0 (0–0)
0 (0–4)
0 (0–0)
1 (0–6)
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.
