Characteristics of 1401 Patients with Acute Low Back Pain Who Did Not Receive a Physician Order and 4073 Patients Clustered by Predominant Physician Orders Within 21 Days of Initial Visit
| No Order N = 1401 | Non-Pharm & 1st-Line Pharm N = 1810 | 2nd-Line Pharm N = 1470 | Imaging N = 525 | Specialty N = 268 | Total N = 4073 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age, mean (SD) | 52 (18) | 48 (17) | 50 (16) | 56 (18) | 53 (16) | 50 (17) |
| Women | 826 (59) | 1063 (59) | 818 (56) | 323 (62) | 137 (51) | 2341 (57) |
| Race | ||||||
| White | 1113 (80) | 1250 (69) | 1289 (88) | 454 (86) | 210 (79) | 3203 (79) |
| Black | 190 (14) | 389 (22) | 113 (8) | 45 (9) | 37 (14) | 584 (14) |
| Missing/Other | 96 (6) | 171 (9) | 68 (4) | 26 (5) | 19 (7) | 284 (7) |
| Ethnicity | ||||||
| Hispanic | 64 (5) | 102 (6) | 43 (3) | 15 (3) | 15 (6) | 175 (4) |
| Non-Hispanic | 1291 (92) | 1658 (92) | 1397 (95) | 499 (95) | 242 (91) | 3796 (93) |
| Missing | 44 (3) | 50 (2) | 30 (2) | 11 (2) | 9 (3) | 157 (4) |
| Location | ||||||
| Baltimore, MD | 243 (17) | 395 (22) | 161 (11) | 62 (12) | 56 (21) | 675 (17) |
| Boston, MA | 165 (12) | 332 (18) | 50 (3) | 12 (2) | 35 (13) | 429 (11) |
| Pittsburgh, PA | 713 (51) | 736 (41) | 852 (58) | 370 (70) | 124 (47) | 2082 (51) |
| Salt Lake City, UT | 278 (20) | 347 (19) | 406 (28) | 81 (15) | 53 (20) | 887 (22) |
| Insurance | ||||||
| Medicare | 355 (25) | 295 (16) | 291 (20) | 170 (32) | 58 (22) | 814 (20) |
| Medicaid | 122 (9) | 188 (10) | 132 (9) | 37 (7) | 24 (9) | 381 (9) |
| Private | 698 (50) | 885 (49) | 784 (53) | 228 (43) | 123 (46) | 2020 (50) |
| Missing/Other | 224 (16) | 442 (25) | 263 (18) | 90 (18) | 61 (23) | 856 (21) |
| Current Smoker | ||||||
| No | 915 (68) | 1140 (63) | 956 (65) | 391 (74) | 156 (59) | 2643 (65) |
| Yes | 115 (8) | 179 (10) | 227 (15) | 51 (10) | 45 (17) | 502 (12) |
| Missing | 333 (24) | 491 (27) | 287 (20) | 83 (16) | 65 (24) | 926 (23) |
| Body Mass Index mean (SD) | 29 (6) | 32 (9) | 32 (8) | 30 (8) | 32 (8) | 32 (8) |
| STarT Back | ||||||
| Low | 834 (60) | 686 (38) | 359 (24) | 188 (36) | 59 (22) | 1292 (32) |
| Medium | 382 (27) | 683 (38) | 687 (47) | 196 (37) | 105 (39) | 1671 (41) |
| High | 183 (13) | 441 (24) | 424 (29) | 141 (27) | 102 (39) | 1108 (27) |
| Baseline ODI, mean (SD)± | 23 (17) | 31 (18) | 40 (19) | 31 (20) | 40 (21) | 35 (19) |
| Axial back pain | 1210 (86) | 1472 (81) | 999 (68) | 356 (68) | 156 (59) | 2983 (73) |
| Back and leg pain | 189 (14) | 338 (19) | 471 (32) | 169 (32) | 110 (41) | 1088 (27) |
| Back pain >3 months | 219 (16) | 239 (13) | 192 (13) | 88 (17) | 60 (23) | 579 (14) |
Notes. *All values are n (%) of patients within that cluster unless otherwise noted.
±ODI: Oswestry Disability Index; 0–100 with lower scores indicating less disability.
Abbreviations: SD, standard deviation.