title: Usual source of care for adults with and without back pain: medical expenditures panel survey data pooled for years 2000 to 2006.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this study was to explore the extent to which individuals with back pain or other health conditions and individuals with no health problems report having a usual source of care (USC) for their health care needs.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study evaluated longitudinal Medical Expenditures Panel Survey data (data pooled for survey calendar years 2000-2006). Comparisons were made between adult Medical Expenditures Panel Survey respondents identified as having a back pain condition (n = 10 194) compared with those without back pain but with other health condition (n = 45 541) and those with no back pain and no other condition (n = 5497).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Compared with individuals with no health problems, those with back pain were almost 8 times more likely (odds ratio, 7.8; P < .001) to report having a USC, and those with other health problems besides back pain were 5 times more likely (odds ratio, 5.4; P < .001). For those with a USC, individuals with back pain and those with other problems but not back pain were both approximately one-and-a-half times more likely than those without any health problems to report a specific provider type as their USC (P < .001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Study findings suggest that relatively healthy adults without back pain are less likely to have a USC than those with back pain or other health problems.
authors.affiliation: National University Health Sciences, Lombard, IL, USA. msmith@nuhs.edu
authors.forename: Monica
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Smith
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D005102:Health Expenditures / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006282:Health Personnel / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006297:Health Services Accessibility / Q000191:economics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D017116:Low Back Pain / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000191:economics* / Q000628:therapy*; D008297:Male; D016017:Odds Ratio; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000191:economics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011787:Quality of Health Care; D012016:Reference Values; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D014481:United States