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Just for information, the attached file was received by me complete and OK, but it sure was big. Cheers, Peter __________________ At 11:41 12/05/98 +0100, you wrote: >DEIRDRE HURLEY wrote: >> >> which article are you referring to ? >> >> deirdre hurley > >I had sent the whole article as an attachement but it was returned as it >was too big. Here is the abstract and references for the full article. >Ross. > >BMJ VOLUME 316 2 MAY 1998 > www. bmj.com >Outcome of low back pain in general practice: >a prospective study >Peter R Croft, Gary J Macfarlane, Ann C Papageorgiou, Elaine Thomas, >Alan J Silman > >Abstract >Objectives: To investigate the claim that 90% of >episodes of low back pain that present to general >practice have resolved within one month. > >Design: Prospective study of all adults consulting in >general practice because of low back pain over >12 months with follow up at 1 week, 3 months, and >12 months after consultation. > >Setting: Two general practices in south Manchester. >Subjects: 490 subjects (203 men, 287 women) aged >1875 years. > >Main outcome measures: Proportion of patients who >have ceased to consult with low back pain after >3 months; proportion of patients who are free of pain >and back related disability at 3 and 12 months. > >Results: Annual cumulative consultation rate among >adults in the practices was 6.4%. Of the 463 patients >who consulted with a new episode of low back pain, >275 (59%) had only a single consultation, and >150 (32%) had repeat consultations confined to the >3 months after initial consultation. However, of those >interviewed at 3 and 12 months follow up, only 39/188 >(21%) and 42/170 (25%) respectively had completely >recovered in terms of pain and disability. >Conclusions: The results are consistent with the >interpretation that 90% of patients with low back pain >in primary care will have stopped consulting with >symptoms within three months. However most will >still be experiencing low back pain and related >disability one year after consultation. >observations with the notion that most patients seen in >primary care are completely better within a month. >We investigated the claim that 90% of episodes >resolve within a month by determining the outcome of >unselected episodes of low back pain in general >practice. The two outcomes evaluated were the >proportion of patients who ceased to consult about the >problem three months later and the proportion of >patients who were free of pain and back related disabil >ity after three and 12 months. > >Subjects and methods >The study population consisted of all patients aged >1875 years in two general practices in south >Manchester who consulted their general practitioner >about low back pain at least once in a 12 month period. >In both practices doctors routinely recorded each >consultation on computer, enabling us to identify all >patients with low back pain recorded as a reason for >consultation. We obtained ethical approval from the >local health authority. > >We defined the first consultation for low back pain >by any patient during the 12 months as the “index” >consultation. This was not necessarily the patient's first >consultation in an episode of back pain. All those who >had not visited their general practitioner because of >low back pain in the three months before this index >consultation were defined as experiencing a “new con >sulting episode” of low back pain. > >University of Keele, >School of >Postgraduate >Medicine, Industrial >and Community >Health Research >Centre, Hartshill, >Stoke on Trent >ST4 7QB >Peter R Croft, >professor >ARC Epidemiology >Research Unit, >School of >Epidemiology and >Health Sciences, >University of >Manchester, >Stopford Building, >Manchester >M13 9PT >Gary J Macfarlane, >senior lecturer >Ann C >Papageorgiou, >studies coordinator >Elaine Thomas, >research statistician >Alan J Silman, >director >Correspondence to: >Dr Macfarlane >G.Macfarlane@ >man.ac.uk >BMJ 1998;316:1356–9 > > %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%