Back pain

Number of patients consulting

The graph below shows the estimated number of patients in Scotland (per 1,000 registered with a practice) who consulted either a GP or practice-employed nurse for back pain at least once in the year ending 31 March 2008, by gender and age group. The patient rates were higher for females than for males in all age groups. However, surveys¹ suggest that back pain is more common in men than women, and these apparent differences may only reflect women being more likely to consult than men.

Esitmates are standardised by deprivation to account for any differences between the PTI sample population and the Scottish practice population in levels of deprivation. These figures and comparable figures for 2003/04 to 2006/07 are also provided in tabular format in an Excel document  (86KB).

Back pain² - estimated number of patients in Scotland consulting a GP or practice nurse at least once in the financial year 2007/08 ^{3, 4} per 1,000 patients registered
by gender and age group

¹ Palmer KT, Walsh K, Bendall H, Cooper C, Coggon D. Back pain in Britain: comparison of two prevalence surveys at an interval of 10 years. BMJ 2000;320:1577.
² Read codes are specifically selected for analysis of this condition.  Please refer to the PTI team for further clarification.
³ Based on 47 PTI practices that submitted complete GP and practice nurse data for the year ending 31 March 2008. Rates are standardised by deprivation.
⁴ Population source: Community Health Index (CHI) record, as at 30 September 2007.

Note: Due to improvements made to the statistical model used to calculate PTI estimates, figures shown here are not strictly comparable to these provided prior to 31 March 2009.  See the Note of Revisions for further information.

Source: Practice Team Information (PTI), ISD Scotland (last updated 31 March 2009)

Number of consultations

The chart below shows the estimated numbers of consultations in Scotland for back pain for the five financial years 2003/04 to 2007/08, by staff discipline. The estimates have dropped steadily over the five years of recording; although differences are relatively small. Most of the contacts for back pain were with the GP, with a relatively small proportion of practice nurse contacts.

Estimates 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. These figures plus additional detail are also provided in tabular format in an Excel document   (20KB).


Back pain ¹ - estimated number of consultations in Scotland in the financial years 2003/04 to 2007/08^{2, 3} 
by staff discipline

* Health visitor and district nurse data are not available from the financial year 2006/07 onwards.
¹ Read codes are specifically selected for analysis of this condition.  Please refer to the PTI team for further clarification
² Based on 59, 53, 51, 49 and 47 PTI practicesthat submitted complete data for the years ending 31 March 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008, respectively. Figures are standardised by age, gender and deprivation.
³ Population source: Community Health Index (CHI) record, as at 30 September 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007.

Note: Due to improvements made to the statistical model used to calculate PTI estimates for all years and the larger number of practices now included in the PTI sample for the years 2003/04 to 2005/06, figures shown here are not strictly comparable to these provided prior to 31 March 2009.  See the Note of Revisions for further information.

Source: Practice Team Information  (PTI), ISD Scotland (last updated 31 March 2009)