Cohort profile: the Norwegian Neck and Back Registry (NNRR): a medical quality registry for patients with neck and back complaints.

PURPOSE

The Norwegian Neck and Back Registry (Norsk Nakke og Rygg Register, NNRR) was established to improve the quality of diagnosis and treatment in patients with neck and back complaints at Departments of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PMR) in Norwegian hospitals. The purpose of this cohort profile is to describe the data from registered patients from 2016 to 2022 and linkage opportunities.

PARTICIPANTS

The registry includes adult patients with neck and back complaints referred to PMR multidisciplinary neck and back outpatient clinics in Norwegian hospitals. As of 2022, more than 8000 men and more than 10 000 women are included in the registry. Patients are predominantly diagnosed with non-specific neck or back conditions. The registry includes baseline and follow-up questionnaires from patients and their clinicians, collecting a broad range of self-reported data including demographic characteristics, employment, benefits, symptoms, diagnosis, treatment and treatment history, as well as quality of life. Participation is voluntary, and all patients in the registry have consented for the collected data to be linked with other national registries, presenting opportunities for large-scale registry-based scientific studies. Recruitment of patients to the registry is ongoing, and since 2016, an increasing number of patients have been included per year, with over 5000 in 2021 and 2022.

FINDINGS TO DATE

Data from the NNRR have been used to improve our understanding of what characterises neck and back patients in specialist healthcare compared with patients in primary healthcare, how neck and back symptoms differ according to ethnicity and language, how nationality influences outcome trajectories for neck and back patients, and for studying properties of measurement instruments.

FUTURE PLANS

Future plans involve expanding the registry to include patients from the remaining three neck and back outpatient clinics in order to obtain a complete national register in Norway, and to facilitate increased use of the data for quality improvement and research purposes. The registry welcomes collaboration with other researchers.