Low back pain in eight areas of Britain.
OBJECTIVE
The aim was to assess the geographical variation in low back pain and associated disability in Britain.


METHODS
This was a cross sectional survey with information collected by postal questionnaire.


METHODS
General practices in seven British towns and one rural district.


METHODS
1172 men and 1495 women aged 20-59 years were selected from the age-sex registers of 136 general practitioners in the study areas.


RESULTS
The overall lifetime and one year period prevalences of low back pain were 58.3% and 36.1%. Rates in men and women were similar. Symptoms were more common in men with manual occupations than in those with non-manual jobs, but in women there was no clear trend in relation to social class. Geographical differences in prevalence were small, but the threshold for consulting general practitioners about symptoms varied markedly from place to place. After allowance for age, sex, social class, and severity of symptoms, subjects in the northern towns of Arbroath and Peterlee who had suffered from low back pain in the past year were three to four times as likely to have consulted their doctor about the problem as those living in the southern towns of St Austell and Dorking. Consultation rates in the Midlands were intermediate.


CONCLUSIONS
Geographical variation in rates of general practice consultation for low back pain in Britain is due largely to differences in patient behaviour once symptoms have developed. The distribution of important causes of low back back pain across the country is probably fairly uniform.
Walsh
K
K
MRC Environmental Epidemiology Unit, University of Southampton, Southampton General Hospital, United Kingdom.
Cruddas
M
M
Coggon
D
D
D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D001416:Back Pain / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005194:Family Practice; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care; D015995:Prevalence; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D012423:Rural Health; D012737:Sex Factors; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D006113:United Kingdom / Q000453:epidemiology; D014504:Urban Health