Table 2.
Thirty-day healthcare utilization among patients who presented for the first time with low back pain by receipt of early physical therapy, from the Truven MarketScan database (2010–2014)
| Resource | N (%) | OR (95% CI)a | OR (95% CI)b | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Early PT, n = 110,834 | No Early PT, n = 868,389 | |||
| Advanced imaging | 14,572 (13) | 182,971 (21) | 0.57 (0.56–0.58) | 0.59 (0.58–0.60) |
| Chiropractor visit | 8469 (7.6) | 146,073 (17) | 0.41 (0.40–0.42) | 0.43 (0.42–0.44) |
| ED visit | 1775 (1.6) | 26,772 (3.1) | 0.51 (0.49–0.54) | 0.54 (0.53–0.59) |
| ESI | 3994 (3.6) | 45,546 (5.2) | 0.68 (0.65–0.70) | 0.66 (0.62–0.70) |
| Orthopaedic visit | 12,479 (11) | 137,893 (16) | 0.67 (0.66–0.69) | 0.68 (0.67–0.70) |
| Pain specialist visit | 3959 (3.6) | 61,399 (7.1) | 0.49 (0.47–0.51) | 0.47 (0.43–0.50) |
| Total spending, $ | 747 ± 940c | 799 ± 1510c | ||
CI confidence interval, ED emergency department, ESI epidural steroid injection, OR odds ratio, PT physical therapy
aReferent is patients who did not receive early PT
bWeighted by inverse propensity score based on employment status, geographic location, and industry classification of the employer
cReported as mean ± standard deviation