| No PCP Visit for Back and/or Neck Pain | Visited any PCP for Back and/or Neck Pain | Visited for Back and/or Neck Pain, By PCP Specialty | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Family Medicine PCP | Internal Medicine PCP | |||
| National estimates, n in millions | ||||
| Patients | 14.7 | 3.0 | 1.4 | 1.7 |
| Visits for back and/or neck pain | 0.0 | 5.9 | 2.7 | 3.2 |
| Estimated expenditures on back and/or neck pain* | 0.0 | 1,345.2 | 615.6 | 729.6 |
| Patient characteristics | ||||
| Mean age, years (SD) | 76.4 (7.2) | 76.6 (7.1) | 76.1 (7.0) | 77.0 (7.1) |
| Sex, n in millions (%) | ||||
| Female | 8.5 (57.7) | 2.0 (65.1) | 0.9 (64.1) | 1.1 (66.2) |
| Male | 6.2 (42.3) | 1.1 (34.9) | 0.5 (35.9) | 0.6 (33.8) |
| Race, n in millions (%) | ||||
| Non-Hispanic white | 13.1 (88.6) | 2.7 (87.9) | 1.3 (89.4) | 1.5 (86.6) |
| Non-Hispanic black | 1.0 (6.8) | 0.2 (6.4) | 0.1 (5.5) | 0.1 (7.0) |
| Other | 0.7 (4.6) | 0.2 (5.6) | 0.1 (5.0) | 0.1 (6.3) |
| Unknown | 0.0 (0.1) | 0.0 (0.1) | 0.0 (0.1) | 0.0 (0.1) |
| Rurality of residence, n in millions (%) | ||||
| Urban | 8.5 (57.9) | 1.8 (59.1) | 0.7 (50.2) | 1.1 (66.6) |
| Rural | 3.8 (25.7) | 0.8 (25.3) | 0.5 (32.0) | 0.3 (19.7) |
| Unknown | 2.4 (16.4) | 0.5 (15.6) | 0.3 (17.8) | 0.2 (13.7) |
| Charlson score, n in millions (%) | ||||
| 0 | 7.7 (52.0) | 1.5 (49.1) | 0.7 (50.6) | 0.8 (47.6) |
| 1 | 2.4 (16.5) | 0.5 (16.7) | 0.2 (16.7) | 0.3 (16.7) |
| 2 | 1.9 (12.8) | 0.4 (13.9) | 0.2 (13.4) | 0.2 (14.4) |
| ≥3 | 2.8 (18.7) | 0.6 (20.3) | 0.3 (19.3) | 0.4 (21.4) |
| Unknown | 0.0 (0.0) | 0.0 (0.0) | 0.0 (0.0) | 0.0 (0.0) |
All differences between those who did and did not visit any primary care physician (PCP) for back and/or neck pain are highly significant at P <.001; the t test was used to compare means and the χ2 test was used to compare proportions.
↵* Calculated by multiplying total visits by estimated cost per visit of $228.26
PCP, primary care physician; SD, standard deviation.