Back pain- number of consultations

The chart below shows the estimated numbers of consultations in Scotland for back pain for the four financial years 2003/04 to 2006/07, by staff discipline. Figures are standardised by age, gender and deprivation to account for any differences in these characteristics between the PTI sample population and the Scottish practice population.

The chart shows that the estimated number of contacts for back pain has dropped steadily over the four years of recording, although differences are not large (note the scale of the chart). Most of the contacts for back pain were with the GP, with a relatively small contribution of practice nurses.

These figures and comparable figures for 2003/04 to 2005/06 are also provided in tabular format in an Excel document   (21KB).

Back pain¹ - estimated number of consultations in Scotland in the financial years 2003/04 to 2006/07 ^{2, 3} 
by staff discipline

* Health visitor and district nurse data are not available for the financial year 2006/07.
¹ Read codes are specifically selected for analysis of this condition.  Please refer to the PTI team for further clarification
² Based on 45, 44, 44 and 45 PTI practices that submitted complete data for the years ending 31 March 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007, respectively. Figures are standardised by age, gender and deprivation.
³ Population source: Community Health Index (CHI) record, as at 30 September 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006.

Note: Following a substantial review of PTI data and subsequent revisions to the methodology for all PTI analyses, direct comparisons with figures produced prior to 27th March 2007 are not valid.  See the Note of Revisions for further information.

Source: Practice Team Information (PTI), ISD Scotland (last updated 25 March 2008)

Related information - Back pain
Excel table giving patient and contact estimates by age and gender for 2003/04 to 2006/07  (47KB)
Back pain - number of patients(chart)