Community survey of factors associated with consultation for low back pain.

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the psychosocial factors associated with consultation for low back pain.

DESIGN

Two phase cross sectional postal survey.

SETTING

Bradford Metropolitan Health District.

SUBJECTS

1813 adults responding to the phase 1 questionnaire. 540 of the 782 with an episode of low back pain in the past 12 months completed the second questionnaire.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

Six psychosocial constructs.

RESULTS

406 (52%) of the respondents reporting back pain in the past 12 months had not consulted a health professional. Logistic regression showed that consultation was associated with externalised beliefs regarding pain management (odds ratio 3.6; 95% confidence interval 2.1 to 6.0). Duration of pain affected the factors associated with consultation. Consultation for episodes lasting less than two weeks (n=290) was associated with greater than median pain (3.0; 1.7 to 5.5), consultation for episodes over two weeks (n=243) was associated with increased disability (3.7; 1.5 to 9.0), and consultation for episodes over three months (n=143) with increased depression (3.9; 1.3 to 11.8).

CONCLUSIONS

The results support a role for psychosocial factors in consultation for low back pain and suggest that the reasons for consultation vary with duration of pain. Duration of the episode may be a useful guide to management of non-specific low back pain.