title: Patient-reported disability in the general Japanese population was associated with medical care visits for low back pain, regardless of pain intensity.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Race/ethnicity is known to affect pain severity and the emotional aspects of pain, with medical care visits also reported to differ according to race/ethnicity. It has been hypothesized that there is an interactive relationship between pain intensity and patient-reported disability and that the interactive relationships are related to medical care visits. However, it remains unclear whether the association between patient-reported disability and medical care visits for low back pain (LBP) are dependent on the pain intensity. The aims of this study were to examine the prevalence of medical care visits among members of the Japanese general population and to analyze the association between patient-reported disability and medical care visits for LBP patients, regardless of the pain intensity.
  
  
  METHODS
  From a random sample of the general Japanese population (n = 2962), we focused on those who experienced LBP within the past month. Subjects were asked about the number of medical care visits (medical clinic or complementary/alternative medical clinic) for LBP. Patient-reported disability was assessed using the Roland-Morris disability questionnaire (RDQ). Pain intensity of LBP was assessed by visual analog scale. To examine the association between RDQ and medical care visits among people with LBP, we used multiple logistic regression analysis and the trend analysis for the RDQ.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of 841 reporting LBP in the past month, 285 (33.9 %) visited a medical care facility. After adjusting for pain intensity and other confounding factors, the odds ratios for the RDQ categories 1-5, 6-10, 11-15, and ≥ 16 were compared with the RDQ categories 0, 1.13 (95 % CI 0.73-1.73), 2.05 (95 % CI 1.17-3.60), 2.21 (95 % CI 1.06-4.62), and 4.0 (95 % CI 1.60-9.98), respectively (p for trend <0.01).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Patient-reported disability was associated with medical care visits for LBP, regardless of the pain intensity, with the results similar to those obtained for other races/ethnicities.
authors: Department of Community Health Sciences, Kobe University Graduate School of Health Sciences, 7-10-2 Tomogaoka, Suma, Kobe, Hyogo, 654-0142, Japan, ono@phoenix.kobe-u.ac.jp.
authors: Rei
authors: R
authors: Ono
authors: Shin
authors: S
authors: Yamazaki
authors: Misa
authors: M
authors: Takegami
authors: Yoshimi
authors: Y
authors: Suzukamo
authors: Shinichi
authors: S
authors: Konno
authors: Shinichi
authors: S
authors: Kikuchi
authors: Shunichi
authors: S
authors: Fukuhara
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D006233:Persons with Disabilities / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D017116:Low Back Pain / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016017:Odds Ratio; D009819:Office Visits / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010147:Pain Measurement / Q000379:methods*; D011159:Population Surveillance; D015995:Prevalence; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult