Table 1.
Characteristics of included studies.
| References/country/study period | Data source | Study objective | Inclusion criteria | LBP definition | WHO regions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alonso-García and Sarría-Santamera (24)/Spain | The National Health Survey of 2017 (NHS 2017) | To estimate the costs attributable to LBP, from a societal perspective | #Spanish population > 14 years of age #Have you suffered of LBP in the last 12 months? | N/A | EURO |
| Mattila et al. (9)/1990–2002/Finland/1990–1994 | National Hospital Discharge Register | To investigate the incidence and trends of LBP hospitalization among Finnish military conscripts. | #All persons who started their military service during the study period. # The overall median length of hospital stay was three (range 1–114) days | ICD | EURO |
| Wieser et al. (25)/Switzerland/2005 | Survey | To estimate the total cost of LBP in Switzerland in 2005 from a societal perspective | >18 years of age | Patient-reported | EURO |
| Depont et al. (26)/France/October 2001 and December 2002. | A structured questionnaire | To determine the total direct medical and non-medical cost of chronic low back pain (LBP) | #Aged 35–75 years #Have LBP at least once a week for at least 3 months #Consent to participate. | Patient-reported | EURO |
| Mattila et al. (27)/Finland/1979 to 1997 | Adolescent Health and Lifestyle Survey | To investigate whether health, physical activity and other health behaviors, socio-demographic background and school success predict LBP hospitalization until early middle age. | Aged 14–18 years participating in a population survey between 1979 and 1997 was followed for an average of 11.1 years | ICD-10 codes | EURO |
| Leino-Arjas et al. (28)/Finland/1995 | The Hospital Discharge Register | To assess the variation in hospital admission rates for back disorders by industry and occupational title among gainfully employed Finns. | Aged 25–64 years and occupationally active during the last week of 1995 (914,750 men and 868,886 women) | ICD-10 codes | EURO |
| Itoh et al. (29)/Japan | The review of public statistics and literature data | To assess the annual medical cost of work-related LBP in Japan. | Aged between 18 and 65 years, who visited any of over 30 Rosai Hospitals across Japan due to LBP | M45-M49, M50-M51 and M54.3-M54.5 | WPRO |
| Gore et al. (17)/United States/2007 and 2008 | LifeLink Health Plan Claims Database | To examine the comorbidities, treatment patterns, health care resource utilization, and direct medical costs of patients with chronic low back pain (CLBP) in clinical practice. | Patients with CLBP | ICD | PAHO |
| Itz et al. (30)/Netherlands/1 July 2008 and 1 January 2009 | Data were retrieved from the Diagnosis Treatment Combination (DTC) registry of Vektis. | To examine the organization of medical specialist care and hospital costs for LBP | Patients referred to the hospital for LBP for the first time. DTCs related to rehabilitation medicine were excluded | N/A | EURO |
| Becker et al., (31)/Germany | This study is a secondary analysis of a 3-armed randomized controlled guideline implementation study in primary care | To describe the costs of care for patients with LBP | Age above 19, ability to read and understand German. Patients with pregnancy and isolated thoracic or cervical pain were excluded. | N/A | EURO |
| Hong et al. (32)/UK/January 1, 2007, to December 31,2009 | The UK General Practice Research Database. | To assess 12-month health care costs associated with the treatment of CLBP. | Aged 18 years or older. Patients with non-organic psychoses were excluded | ICD, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM) | EURO |
| Olafsson et al. (11)/Sweden/2008–2011 | Six Swedish national and regional registries | To estimate the societal costs of LBP. | Patients who underwent surgery anywhere in Sweden during 2000–2012 as registered in Swespine. | ICD-10 codes | EURO |
| Licciardone (8)/United States/2003–2004 | The National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey | To elucidate the epidemiology and medical management of LBP during ambulatory medical care visits in the United States. | Physicians who met the criteria of being: (1) office-based; (2) principally engaged in patient care activities; (3) non-federally employed; and (4) not in the specialties of anesthesiology, pathology, or radiology. | Patient-reported | PAHO |
| Ekman et al. (33)/Sweden/2002 | Cross-sectional data (questionnaire) | To analyze the health care resource use, productivity loss, and health-related quality of life of patients with CLBP | Age 18 years or older, had experienced LBP at least 50% of the days during the last 3 months. Patients with CLBP as a result of acute fractures, tumors, infection, or pregnancy were excluded | Patient-reported | EURO |
| Ivanova et al. (34)/US/1999 to 2006 | Privately insured claims database | To assess the actual practice patterns of imaging, non-invasive therapy, medication use, and surgery in patients with LBP, and compare their costs to those of matched controls without LBP. | Aged 18– 64 years who had at least one LBP diagnosis, #Patients were required to have at least 6 months of continuous benefit eligibility before the initial LBP diagnosis. | ICD, Ninth Edition | PAHO |
| Taylor et al. (35)/United States/1987-1992 | Washington State automated database | To examine recent trends and geographic variation of hospitalization in low back pain | ICD, Version 9 | PAHO | |
| Walker et al. (36)/Australia/2001 | Survey | To estimate the cost-of-illness of LBP | 18 years or older | ICD-10 codes | WPRO |
| van der Wurf et al. (37)/Netherlands/2015 to 2017 | Occupational health services database in the Netherlands | To investigate the costs of LBP associated sick leave of workers in the Netherlands. | We included workers who were registered in the database with LBP associated sick leave episode. | ICD-10 codes | EURO |
| Hart et al. (38)/United States/three time periods (1980–81, 1985, 1989–90). | The National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey | To characterize the frequency of office visits for LBP/the contempt of ambulatory care, and how these vary by physician specialty. | It included nearly 3,000 office-based physician respondents not employed by the federal government in the 1990 survey. | ICD-9-CM codes | PAHO |
| Ferreira et al. (39)/Australia/2016–2019 | Retrospective analysis | To investigate and quantify the extent of clinical variation in hospital admission following an ED presentation for LBP. | All ED presentations of patients aged between 18 and 111 with a discharge diagnosis of LBP with or without neurological signs and symptoms. | ICD-10, ICD-9 and SNOMED codes | WPRO |
| Buchbinder et al. (40)/Australia/2015 | Retrospective review | To describe the characteristics and management of patients who presented to an Australian private hospital ED in 2015 with LBP | A triage presenting complaint code of either LBP; an ED discharge diagnosis of LBP or possibly related to LBP; and a main complaint of LBP in triage notes. | NA | WPRO |
ICD, The International Classification of Diseases; PAHO, Region of the Americas; WPRO, Western Pacific Region; EURO, European Region; N/A, not available; ED, Emergency department; SNOMED, Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine Clinical Terms codes.