Table.
One year prevalence* of symptoms of low back pain in 1987-8 and 1997-8 in patients randomly selected from general practitioners' lists. Values are numbers (percentages) of patients unless indicated otherwise
| Men
|
Women
|
||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No of participants
|
All low back pain
|
Low back pain making it impossible to put on hosiery
|
No of participants
|
All low back pain
|
Low back pain making it impossible to put on hosiery
|
||||||||||||
| 1987-8 | 1997-8 | 1987-8 | 1997-8 | 1987-8 | 1997-8 | 1987-8 | 1997-8 | 1987-8 | 1997-8 | 1987-8 | 1997-8 | ||||||
| Age (years): | |||||||||||||||||
| 20-29 | 261 | 905 | 91 (34.9) | 421 (46.5) | 8 (3.1) | 11 (1.2) | 332 | 1044 | 86 (25.9) | 402 (38.5) | 8 (2.4) | 17 (1.6) | |||||
| 30-39 | 315 | 1442 | 120 (38.1) | 756 (52.4) | 15 (4.8) | 39 (2.7) | 429 | 1464 | 142 (33.1) | 600 (41.0) | 11 (2.6) | 22 (1.5) | |||||
| 40-49 | 303 | 1439 | 112 (37.0) | 812 (56.4) | 9 (3.0) | 61 (4.2) | 368 | 1302 | 165 (44.8) | 624 (48.0) | 13 (3.5) | 42 (3.2) | |||||
| 50-59 | 256 | 1519 | 103 (40.2) | 860 (56.6) | 12 (4.7) | 49 (3.2) | 332 | 1248 | 115 (34.6) | 639 (51.2) | 12 (3.6) | 55 (4.4) | |||||
| Social class†: | |||||||||||||||||
| I and II | 231 | 1597 | 54 (23.0) | 732 (45.3) | 7 (3.0) | 27 (1.5) | 347 | 1210 | 111 (31.9) | 520 (43.4) | 6 (1.8) | 27 (2.5) | |||||
| IIIN | 131 | 517 | 46 (35.1) | 246 (47.9) | 5 (3.8) | 17 (3.4) | 189 | 1253 | 64 (35.2) | 473 (38.0) | 6 (3.0) | 17 (1.3) | |||||
| IIIM | 414 | 1287 | 186 (45.4) | 783 (60.8) | 11 (2.7) | 45 (3.5) | 478 | 204 | 175 (36.4) | 105 (52.9) | 21 (4.3) | 5 (2.8) | |||||
| IV and V | 282 | 918 | 118 (40.9) | 537 (58.5) | 17 (6.3) | 17 (1.9) | 289 | 778 | 103 (37.4) | 378 (48.3) | 8 (3.0) | 9 (1.2) | |||||
| Region§: | |||||||||||||||||
| South West | 98 | 435 | 35 (34.9) | 246 (55.9) | 2 (2.2) | 13 (2.8) | 137 | 323 | 46 (34.2) | 148 (45.8) | 3 (2.3) | 7 (2.1) | |||||
| South East | 111 | 212 | 37 (33.6) | 126 (59.6) | 4 (3.8) | 7 (3.1) | 147 | 264 | 45 (31.2) | 121 (45.8) | 4 (2.5) | 5 (2.0) | |||||
| Eastern | 155 | 217 | 65 (43.3) | 112 (52.0) | 6 (4.8) | 5 (2.4) | 196 | 215 | 74 (37.9) | 82 (38.3) | 9 (4.4) | 7 (3.2) | |||||
| Trent | 204 | 763 | 85 (41.8) | 404 (53.2) | 11 (5.4) | 21 (2.8) | 252 | 724 | 87 (34.9) | 350 (49.0) | 8 (3.2) | 25 (3.7) | |||||
| Northern and Yorks | 149 | 1481 | 69 (48.2) | 781 (52.3) | 14 (10.3) | 48 (3.2) | 201 | 1438 | 66 (33.2) | 615 (43.1) | 5 (2.3) | 24 (1.7) | |||||
| North West | 126 | 501 | 31 (24.4) | 277(54.9) | 2 (1.6) | 15 (2.9) | 192 | 409 | 70 (36.3) | 176 (42.8) | 7 (4.0) | 12 (2.8) | |||||
| Wales | 139 | 316 | 51 (36.6) | 177 (54.9) | 4 (3.2) | 12 (3.7) | 145 | 255 | 47 (32.1) | 138 (55.3) | 3 (2.1) | 11 (4.0) | |||||
| Scotland | 153 | 431 | 53 (34.4) | 240 (55.2) | 1 (0.6) | 12 (2.6) | 191 | 334 | 73 (37.9) | 159 (48.6) | 5 (2.6) | 6 (1.9) | |||||
Prevalence by social class and region was directly standardised to the age distribution of the combined samples from both surveys.
In 1987-8 the social class of married women was classified according to their husband's occupation. In all other cases social class was based on the subject's own occupation. Social class could not be classified for 235 subjects in 1987-8 and 2599 subjects in 1997-8.
Prevalence by region is presented for those regions that included towns surveyed in 1987-8. Because the sampling within each region was geographically localised, these rates may not be representative of those in the region as a whole.