Table 1.

Patient Visits for Low Back Pain According to Importance and Classification of Reason for Visit, 2003–2004 (N = 1,539)*

	Importance of Reason for Visit								Reason for Visit Classification Code†
	Primary				Secondary or Tertiary				1905				1910
Characteristic	n	NPE	SE	%	n	NPE	SE	%	n	NPE	SE	%	n	NPE	SE	%
Patient age, y
<25	73	2,828	420	7	42	1,595	316	8	81	3,257	430	8	34	1,167	274	5
25–44	340	14,052	1,194	33	133	5,308	553	28	289	11,598	1,091	30	184	7,763	666	34
45–64	392	16,122	1,796	38	206	7,476	934	39	364	14,192	1,279	36	234	9,406	1,432	41
≥ 65	237	9,424	1,118	22	126	4,910	620	25	249	9,918	1,209	25	114	4,417	655	19
Patient sex
Female	589	24,275	1,941	57	319	12,377	875	64	582	23,178	1,852	59	326	13,474	1,074	59
Male	453	18,152	1,716	43	188	6,913	749	36	401	15,786	1,312	41	240	9,279	1,277	41
Patient race
White	936	37,791	2,951	89	439	16,567	1,140	86	870	33,905	2,480	87	505	20,453	1,815	90
Non-White	106	4,635	637	11	68	2,724	604	14	113	5,059	924	13	61	2,300	366	10
Patient ethnicity
Non-Hispanic	943	38,746	3,055	91	458	17,455	1,155	90	903	36,011	2,604	92	498	20,189	1,821	89
Hispanic	99	3,681	509	9	49	1,836	378	10	80	2,953	484	8	68	2,563	395	11
Geographic region
Northeast	292	13,189	2,211	31	149	5,376	760	28	253	10,157	1,582	26	188	8,408	1,689	37
Midwest	222	8,102	1,146	19	107	3,602	400	19	216	7,966	1,170	20	113	3,739	447	16
South	313	11,984	1,319	28	146	5,964	607	31	315	12,592	1,411	32	144	5,356	558	24
West	215	9,152	1,313	22	105	4,348	580	23	199	8,249	1,090	21	121	5,250	683	23
MSA status
MSA	861	36,579	3,208	86	432	17,125	1,344	89	815	33,342	2,882	86	478	20,362	2,034	89
Non-MSA	181	5,848	1,653	14	75	2,166	599	11	168	5,623	1,497	14	88	2,391	652	11
Episode of care
Initial	351	14,286	1,126	34	158	6,210	614	32	322	13,279	1,093	34	187	7,217	743	32
Follow-up	617	24,754	2,483	58	304	10,893	1,011	56	586	22,309	1,962	57	335	13,338	1,699	59
Other or missing	74	3,387	545	8	45	2,188	373	11	75	3,376	543	9	44	2,198	371	10
Chronicity of symptoms
Acute	402	16,819	1,260	40	169	6,632	685	34	360	14,820	1,292	38	211	8,631	712	38
Chronic, routine	398	16,797	2,342	40	211	7,096	845	37	380	14,874	1,685	38	229	9,019	1,603	40
Chronic, flare-up	176	6,494	779	15	79	2,990	404	15	171	6,280	724	16	84	3,203	513	14
Other or missing‡	66	2,317	402	5	48	2,573	471	13	72	2,990	388	8	42	1,900	340	8
IPA etiology
No	722	28,796	2,161	68	341	13,215	1,006	69	698	27,443	2,195	70	365	14,568	1,201	64
Yes	320	13,631	1,449	32	166	6,075	716	31	285	11,522	1,040	30	201	8,185	1,100	36
PCP status
Non-PCP or unknown	589	18,744	2,306	44	314	9,241	918	48	532	16,465	1,940	42	371	11,519	1,564	51
PCP	453	23,683	1,845	56	193	10,049	958	52	451	22,499	1,823	58	195	11,233	934	49
Type of physician
Doctor of Medicine	782	31,845	2,192	75	407	15,399	1,080	80	762	30,832	2,257	79	427	16,412	1,132	72
Doctor of Osteopathy	260	10,582	2,130	25	100	3,892	600	20	221	8,132	1,434	21	139	6,341	1,631	28
Physician specialty
Family (general) medicine	404	18,523	1,737	44	145	6,687	692	35	382	17,484	1,879	45	167	7,725	1,011	34
Internal medicine	107	9,702	2,264	23	54	4,703	1,008	24	96	8,199	1,257	21	65	6,206§	2,234	27
Neurology	141	1,244	218	3	96	1,011	213	5	132	1,138	181	3	105	1,116	322	5
Orthopedics	151	3,618	546	9	66	2,020	489	10	121	3,025	478	8	96	2,613	505	11
All other specialties	239	9,340	1,278	22	146	4,869	586	25	252	9,118	1,160	23	133	5,092	697	22
Shared physician care
No or unknown	715	31,694	2,633	75	336	13,417	1,007	70	690	28,951	2,184	74	361	16,160	1,692	71
Yes	327	10,733	1,017	25	171	5,873	672	30	293	10,013	963	26	205	6,593	703	29
Total	1,042	42,427	3,108	100	507	19,290	1,201	100	983	38,964	2,655	100	566	22,753	1,957	100

Abbreviations: IPA, injury, poisoning, or adverse effect of medical treatment; MSA, metropolitan statistical area; NPE, national population estimate for the two-year interval; PCP, primary care physician, SE, standard error of the national population estimate.

*Table entries for NPE and SE are in thousands; percentages are based on NPE.

†1905 represents back pain and 1910 represents low back pain.

‡Other options included pre- or post-surgery visits, prenatal care, and health maintenance visits.

§NPE may be unreliable because SE>30% of NPE.