Background
Methods
Study design
Ethical considerations
ECOGEN Data collection
Inclusion criteria
Contextual variable aggregation
Analyses
Results
Description
Total population with MSD symptoms | Physiotherapy referral | No physiotherapy referral | p-value | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Patient variables | N = 2305 (%) | N = 456 (%) | Confidence interval 95% | N = 1849 (%) | Confidence interval 95% | |
Age, n (%) | 0.003 | |||||
< 35 years | 439 (19.0) | 110 (24.1) | [20.2 – 28.0] | 329 (17.8) | [16.1 – 19.5] | |
35–50 years | 755 (32.8) | 152 (33.3) | [29.0 – 37.7] | 603 (32.6) | [30.5 – 34.7] | |
> 50 years | 1111 (48.2) | 194 (42.6) | [38.0 – 47.1] | 917 (49.6) | [47.3 – 51.9] | |
Gender: Female, n (%) | 1382 (60.0) | 295 (64.7) | [60.3 – 69.1] | 1087 (58.8) | [56.5 – 61.0] | 0.024 |
Profession, n(%) | 0.049 | |||||
Farmer | 17 (0.7) | 2 (0.4) | [0.0 – 1.0] | 15 (0.8) | [0.4 – 1.2] | |
Self-employed | 129 (5.6) | 24 (5.3) | [3.2 – 7.3] | 105 (5.7) | [4.6 – 6.7] | |
Managerial staff | 169 (7.3) | 28 (6.1) | [3.9 – 8.3] | 141 (7.6) | [6.4 – 8.8] | |
Intermediate-level profession | 201 (8.7) | 56 (12.3) | [9.3 – 15.3] | 145 (7.8) | [6.6 – 9.1] | |
Salaried worker | 898 (39.0) | 183 (40.1) | [35.6 – 44.6] | 715 (38.7) | [36.4 – 40.9] | |
Manual worker | 241 (10.5) | 49 (10.7) | [7.9 – 13.6] | 192 (10.4) | [8.0 – 11.8] | |
Retired | 302 (13.1) | 46 (10.1) | [7.3 – 12.9] | 256 (13.8) | [12.3 – 15.4] | |
Unemployed | 348 (15.1) | 68 (14.9) | [11.6 – 18.2] | 280 (15.1) | [13.5 – 16.8] | |
Compensation for an occupational accident or disease, n (%) | 247 (10.7) | 50 (11.0) | [8.1 – 13.8] | 197 (10.7) | [9.2 – 12.1] | 0.914 |
Consultation duration, mean (standard deviation) | 18.23 (11.69) | 18.13 (7.94) | [17.4—18.9] | 18.25 (12.45) | [17.7 – 18.8] | 0.800 |
Total population with MSD symptoms | Physiotherapy referral | No physiotherapy referral | p-value | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
N = 2305 (%) | N = 456 (%) | Confidence intervals 95% | N = 1849 (%) | Confidence intervals 95% | ||
Number of healthcare procedures associated with an MSD symptom per patient, n(%) | < 0.001 | |||||
1–3 | 846 (36.7) | 274 (60.1) | [ 55.6—64.6] | 572 (30.9) | [ 28.8—33.0] | |
4–6 | 976 (42.3) | 128 (28.1) | [ 23.9—32.2] | 848 (45.9) | [ 43.6—48.1] | |
> 6 | 483 (21.0) | 54 (11.8) | [ 8.9—14.8] | 429 (23.2) | [ 21.3—25.1] | |
Healthcare procedures, n(%) | ||||||
Medication | 1486 (64.5) | 262 (57.5) | [ 52.9—61.0] | 1224 (66.2) | [ 64.0—68.4] | < 0.001 |
Imaging | 394 (17.1) | 56 (12.3) | [ 9.3—15.3] | 338 (18.3) | [ 16.5—20.0] | 0.002 |
Sick leave | 390 (16.9) | 73 (16.0) | [ 12.6—19.4] | 317 (17.1) | [ 15.4—18.9] | 0.562 |
Advice and recommendations | 224 (9.7) | 56 (12.3) | [ 9.3—15.3] | 168 (9.1) | [ 7.8—10.4] | 0.039 |
Laboratory investigation | 62 (2.7) | 3 (0.7) | [ 0.0—1.4] | 59 (3.2) | [ 2.4—3.0] | 0.001 |
Infiltration | 51 (2.2) | 3 (0.7) | [ 0.0—1.4] | 48 (2.6) | [ 1.9—3.3] | 0.008 |
Hierarchical model for patients consulting for an MSD
Variable | Model considering all MSD location (n = 2305) OR (CI 95%) | p-value | Model considering only spinal location (n = 906) OR (CI 95%) | p-value | Model considering only shoulder location (n = 255) OR (CI 95%) | p-value |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Patient variables | ||||||
Patient age | ||||||
18–34 years | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||
35–50 years | 0.78 (0.58–1.04) | 0.084 | 0.78 (0.59–1.05) | 0.096 | 0.75 (0.56–1.01) | 0.056 |
50–65 years | 0.69 (0.52–0.91) | 0.008 | 0.74 (0.56–0.98) | 0.033 | 0.65 (0.49–0.86) | 0.003 |
Gender female | 1.28 (1.03–1.59) | 0.024 | 1.30 (1.05–1.62) | 0.011 | 1.29 (1.04–1.60) | 0.020 |
Number of associated healthcare procedures | ||||||
0–3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||
4–6 | 0.73 (0.57–0.93) | 0.013 | 0.73 (0.57–0.93) | 0.016 | 0.73 (0.57–0.94) | 0.014 |
> 6 | 0.68 (0.50–0.94) | 0.018 | 0.70 (0.51–0.96) | 0.027 | 0.69 (0.50–0.95) | 0.022 |
GP variables | ||||||
GP age > 50 years | 0.50 (0.39–0.63) | < 0.001 | 0.50 (0.40–0.63) | < 0.001 | 0.50 (0.39–0.63) | < 0.001 |
Practice location | ||||||
Rural | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||
Semi-urban | 0.62 (0.42–0.90) | 0.013 | 0.62 (0.43–0.91) | 0.018 | 0.61 (0.42–0.90) | 0.011 |
Urban | 0.84 (0.58–1.21) | 0.344 | 0.85 (0.59–1.23) | 0.325 | 0.83 (0.57–1.20) | 0.319 |
Type of practice | ||||||
Alone | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||
Group | 0.98 (0.74–1.30) | 0.902 | 0.98 (0.74–1.30) | 0.806 | 0.99 (0.74–1.31) | 0.924 |
Multidisciplinary team | 0.62 (0.43–0.90) | 0.011 | 0.62 (0.43–0.90) | 0.009 | 0.63 (0.43–0.91) | 0.014 |
Number of consultations per year > 5000 | 0.79 (0.63–0.99) | 0.038 | 0.80 (0.64–1.00) | 0.052 | 0.78 (0.62–0.98) | 0.032 |
Geographical variables | ||||||
FDep | ||||||
Q1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||
Q2 | 0.73 (0.52–1.00) | 0.053 | 0.74 (0.53–1.02) | 0.079 | 0.73 (0.52–1.01) | 0.054 |
Q3 | 0.61 (0.41–0.90) | 0.013 | 0.62 (0.42–0.92) | 0.011 | 0.60 (0.40–0.89) | 0.011 |
Q4 | 0.60 (0.40–0.90) | 0.013 | 0.61 (0.40–0.91) | 0.009 | 0.59 (0.39–0.89) | 0.012 |
Spine symptoms (versus any other) | 1.47 (1.18–1.83) | < 0.001 | - | - | - | - |
Shoulder symptoms (versus any other) | 1.66 (1.20–2.29) | 0.002 | - | - | - | - |