老年人下背痛的意义。

Fernbach J C, Langer F, Gross A E

Can Med Assoc J. 1976 Nov 6;115(9):898-900.

A retrospective study of the practice of an orthopedic surgeon at a university teaching hospital was done to evaluate the significance of low back pain in older adults. All 259 patients in a 3-year period 50 years of age and over whose presenting complaint was low back pain or sciatica or both were identified and classified by final diagnosis. A comparison was similarly identified and classified. Systemic disease, particularly cancer, was much more prevalent in the older group. It was demonstrated that a simple screening routine consisting of measuring the erythrocyte sedimentation rate and serum concentrations of alkaline phosphatase and calcium would identify all cases of unsuspected malignant disease--that is, at least one of the values would be abnormal in every case.

为评估老年人下腰痛的重要性，对一所大学教学医院的一名骨科医生的诊疗实践进行了一项回顾性研究。在三年期间，所有259名50岁及以上以腰痛或坐骨神经痛或两者为主要诉求的患者均被识别出来，并根据最终诊断进行分类。同样识别并分类了一个对照组。全身性疾病，尤其是癌症，在老年组中更为普遍。结果表明，一个简单的筛查程序，包括测量红细胞沉降率、碱性磷酸酶和钙的血清浓度，将能够识别所有未被怀疑的恶性疾病病例——也就是说，每个病例中至少有一个值会异常。