Table 2.
Patient characteristic-specific management of new presentations of neck pain and LBP, rate per 1,000 encounters
| Patient characteristic | New neck pain | New lower back pain | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number | Rate per 1,000 encounters (95% CIs) | Number | Rate per 1,000 encounters (95% CIs) | |
| Gender | ||||
| Male | 1,221 | 3.1 (2.9–3.3) | 2,436 | 6.1 (5.9–6.4) |
| Female | 1,828 | 3.2 (3.0–3.3) | 3,177 | 5.5 (5.3–5.7) |
| Missing | 21 | 62 | ||
| Age | ||||
| 0–24 | 473 | 2.3 (2.1–2.5) | 699 | 3.4 (3.1–3.6) |
| 25–44 | 931 | 3.9 (3.7–4.2) | 1,766 | 7.5 (7.1–7.9) |
| 45–64 | 1,015 | 3.8 (3.5–4.0) | 1,946 | 7.3 (6.9–7.6) |
| 65+ | 629 | 2.4 (2.2–2.6) | 1,231 | 4.7 (4.4–4.9) |
| Missing | 22 | 33 | ||
| Residence* | ||||
| Major city | 2,189 | 3.3 (3.2–3.5) | 3,825 | 5.8 (5.6–6.0) |
| Rural | 811 | 2.7 (2.5–2.9) | 1,704 | 5.7 (5.4–6.0) |
| Total | 3,070 | 3.1 (3.0–3.2) | 5,675 | 5.8 (5.6–5.9) |
* Defined according to the Australian Statistical Geographic Classification [16]