Association of Back Pain with All-Cause and Cause-Specific Mortality Among Older Women: a Cohort Study.

BACKGROUND: The impact of back pain on disability in older women is well-understood, but the influence of back pain on mortality is unclear. OBJECTIVE: To examine whether back pain was associated with all-cause and cause-specific mortality in older women and mediation of this association by disability. DESIGN: Prospective cohort study. SETTING: The Study of Osteoporotic Fractures. PARTICIPANTS: Women aged 65 or older. MEASUREMENT: Our primary outcome, time to death, was assessed using all-cause and cause-specific adjusted Cox models. We used a four-category back pain exposure (no back pain, non-persistent, infrequent persistent, or frequent persistent back pain) that combined back pain frequency and persistence across baseline (1986-1988) and first follow-up (1989-1990) interviews. Disability measures (limitations of instrumental activities of daily living [IADL], slow chair stand time, and slow walking speed) from 1991 were considered a priori potential mediators. RESULTS: Of 8321 women (mean age 71.5, SD = 5.1), 4975 (56%) died over a median follow-up of 14.1 years. A higher proportion of women with frequent persistent back pain died (65.8%) than those with no back pain (53.5%). In the fully adjusted model, women with frequent persistent back pain had higher hazard of all-cause (hazard ratio [HR] = 1.24 [95% CI, 1.11-1.39]), cardiovascular (HR = 1.34 [CI, 1.12-1.62]), and cancer (HR = 1.33, [CI 1.03-1.71]) mortality. No association with mortality was observed for other back pain categories. In mediation analyses, IADL limitations explained 47% of the effect of persistent frequent back pain on all-cause mortality, slow chair stand time, and walking speed, explained 27% and 24% (all significant, p < 0.001), respectively. LIMITATIONS: Only white women were included. CONCLUSION: Frequent persistent back pain was associated with increased mortality in older women. Much of this association was mediated by disability.

PNET spine: morbid and mortal, but ignored till late.

Spinal primitive neuroectodermal tumor (PNET) is rare. We present clinical, radiologic profile and treatment outcome of 15 spinal PNET patients from June 2003 to March 2010 treated with chemoradiotherapy. Median duration of backache was 6.5 months; all had features of myelopathy and/or radiculopathy; 5/15 (33.3%) patients were diagnosed initially as spinal tuberculosis. The event-free survival (EFS) was 24.73% at a median follow-up of 22 months. Complete functional recovery to treatment significantly predicted better EFS; 4 patients discontinued treatment because of poor functional recovery. It is important to recognize spinal PNET early to prevent permanent neurological damage, which in turn would improve compliance, quality of life, and perhaps EFS.

Back pain outcomes in primary care following a practice improvement intervention:- a prospective cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Back pain is one of the UK's costliest and least understood health problems, whose prevalence still seems to be increasing. Educational interventions for general practitioners on back pain appear to have had little impact on practice, but these did not include quality improvement learning, involve patients in the learning, record costs or document practice activities as well as patient outcomes. METHODS: We assessed the outcome of providing information about quality improvement techniques and evidence-based practice for back pain using the Clinical Value Compass. This included clinical outcomes (Roland and Morris Disability Questionnaire), functional outcomes, costs of care and patient satisfaction. We provided workshops which used an action learning approach and collected before and after data on routine practice activity from practice electronic databases. In parallel, we studied outcomes in a separate cohort of patients with acute and sub-acute non-specific back pain recruited from the same practices over the same time period. Patient data were analysed as a prospective, split-cohort study with assessments at baseline and eight weeks following the first consultation. RESULTS: Data for 1014 patients were recorded in the practice database study, and 101 patients in the prospective cohort study. We found that practice activities, costs and patient outcomes changed little after the intervention. However, the intervention was associated with a small, but statistically significant reduction in disability in female patients. Additionally, baseline disability, downheartedness, self-rated health and leg pain had small but statistically significant effects (p < 0.05) on follow-up disability scores in some subgroups. CONCLUSIONS: GP education for back pain that both includes health improvement methodologies and involves patients may yield additional benefits for some patients without large changes in patterns of practice activity. The effects in this study were small and limited and the reasons for them remain obscure. However, such is the impact of back pain and its frequency of consultation in general practice that this kind of improvement methodology deserves further consideration. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: ISRCTN: ISRCTN30420389.

Spontaneous pyogenic spinal epidural abscess.

AIM: Spontaneous pyogenic spinal epidural abscess (SEA) is a rare condition but might be devastating and fatal. Traditional treatment is surgical decompression and antibiotics. A retrospective study was designed to assess the eff ect of clinical findings and treatment methods on the outcome. MATERIAL AND METHODS: 14 patients were reviewed (10 male, 4 female, mean age 59.14). Six dorsal, seven ventral and one dorsal with ventral SEA were observed. SEA found in thoracal (5), lumbar (4), cervical (3) regions. One patient showed both cervical and thoracal and one patient showed cervical, thoracal and lumbar involvement. All patients received minimum 3 weeks of I.V., followed by minimum 3 weeks of oral antibiotics. All patients complained of spinal pain. Ten patients presented with fever. Neurological deficit was observed in 9 cases. RESULTS: A total of 22 interventions was performed. Instrumentation was applied in 5 cases. Full recovery was achieved in 7 patients, significant improvement was observed in 5 patients. The neurological findings did not change in one patient. One mortality and one morbidity were observed. CONCLUSION: Spontaneous SEA is a rare disease but might result in catastrophic neurological deficits and fatal even with prompt treatment. Therefore, one should always keep SEA in mind if a patient presents with fever, vague and spinal pain.

Mortality among immigrant patients 20-45 years of age with chronic back pain in primary care in Sweden: A 15-year follow-up cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Mortality rates among immigrant patients undergoing rehabilitation for musculoskeletal backache are unknown. OBJECTIVE: To study the association between marital status, severe psychosocial strain, receiving long-term time-limited sickness allowance (TLSA) and all-cause mortality (ACM) in a cohort of immigrants aged 20-45 years with long-standing backache in Sweden. METHODS: We studied 318 patients (92% foreign-born, 76% non-European) of known marital status on sick-leave for musculoskeletal backache. They were followed up for ACM until 2015. Socio-demographic data, TLSA and psychosocial strain, including major depression, severe psychosocial stressors and pessimistic thoughts, were analysed using multiple-imputation Cox regression. RESULTS: Over a mean (standard deviation) follow-up time of 15 (5.0) years, 11 (3.5%) participants died. At baseline, 34% were unmarried, 19% were receiving TLSA, and 71% had ⩾ 1 psychosocial strain component (38% depression; 47% severe stressors; 35% pessimistic thoughts). After concomitant risk factors were adjusted for, being unmarried and receiving TLSA were associated with higher mortality by factors of 6.2 (p= 0.005) and 5.8 (p= 0.006), respectively. Psychosocial strain was only significantly associated with higher mortality in the unadjusted analyses. CONCLUSIONS: Being unmarried and receiving TLSA were associated with significantly higher ACM in this highly marginalized group of immigrant patients.

Is this back pain killing me? All-cause and cardiovascular-specific mortality in older Danish twins with spinal pain.

BACKGROUND: Few studies have examined the potentially reduced life expectancy associated with spinal pain (i.e. low back and neck pain) in an ageing population, particularly after controlling for familial factors, including genetics. METHODS: We investigated whether spinal pain increased the rate of all-cause and disease-specific cardiovascular mortality in older Danish twins aged ≥70 years. Data from 4391 participants collected at baseline were linked with the Danish Cause of Death Registry with the study ending on 31 December 2014. Two crude and adjusted Cox proportional hazards regression analyses determined the rate of all-cause and disease-specific cardiovascular mortality by baseline spinal pain exposure; unpaired (total sample analysis) and twin pair (intra-pair analysis). Analyses were also adjusted for confounders; baseline physical functional ability and depressive symptoms. Competing risk regression models determined the rate of cardiovascular mortality, adjusting for similar confounders and using the total sample only. RESULTS: Spinal pain was associated with an increased rate of all-cause mortality, hazard ratio (HR): 1.13 [95% confidence interval (CI): 1.06-1.21]. There was no association between spinal pain and cardiovascular disease mortality, sub-distribution hazard ratio (SHR): 1.08 [95% CI 0.96-1.21]. After adjusting for confounders (physical functional ability and depressive symptoms), the association became non-significant. All intra-pair analyses were statistically non-significant, although greater in magnitude for monozygotic twins. CONCLUSIONS: Older people reporting spinal pain have 13% increased risk of mortality per years lived but the connection is not causal. We found no association between spinal pain and cardiovascular-specific mortality. The influence of shared familial factors is unlikely. SIGNIFICANCE: Older people reporting spinal pain have 13% increased risk of mortality per year lived. However, this association is not likely to be causal, with the relevant confounders contributing to this relationship. Thus, pain in the spine may be part of a pattern of poor health, which increases mortality risk in the older population.

Pattern and severity of multimorbidity among patients attending primary care settings in Odisha, India.

Multimorbidity is increasingly the primary concern of healthcare systems globally with substantial implications for patient outcomes and resource cost. A critical knowledge gap exists as to the magnitude of multimorbidity in primary care practice in low and middle income countries with available information limited to prevalence. In India, primary care forms the bulk of the health care delivery being provided through both public (community health center) and private general practice setting. We undertook a study to identify multimorbidity patterns and relate these patterns to severity among primary care attendees in Odisha state of India. A total of 1649 patients attending 40 primary care facilities were interviewed using a structured multimorbidity assessment questionnaire. Multimorbidity patterns (dyad and triad) were identified for 21 chronic conditions, functional limitation was assessed as a proxy measure of severity and the mean severity score for each pattern, was determined after adjusting for age. The leading dyads in younger age group i.e. 18-29 years were acid peptic disease with arthritis/ chronic back ache/tuberculosis /chronic lung disease, while older age groups had more frequent combinations of hypertension + arthritis/ chronic lung disease/vision difficulty, and arthritis + chronic back ache. The triad of acid peptic disease + arthritis + chronic backache was common in men in all age groups. Tuberculosis and lung diseases were associated with significantly higher age-adjusted mean severity score (poorer functional ability). Among men, arthritis, chronic backache, chronic lung disease and vision impairment were observed to have highest severity) whereas women reported higher severity for combinations of hypertension, chronic back ache and arthritis. Given the paucity of studies on multimorbidity patterns in low and middle income countries, future studies should seek to assess the reproducibility of our findings in other populations and settings. Another task is the potential implications of different multimorbidity clusters for designing care protocols, as currently the protocols are disease specific, hardly taking comorbidity into account.

The relationship between back pain and mortality in older adults varies with disability and gender: results from the Cambridge City over-75s Cohort (CC75C) study.

BACKGROUND: This study aims to determine whether older adults reporting back pain (BP) are at increased risk of premature mortality, specifically, to examine the association with disabling/non-disabling pain separately. METHODS: Participants aged ≥75 years were recruited to the Cambridge City over-75s Cohort (CC75C) study. Participants answered interviewer-administered questions on BP and were followed up until death. The relationship between BP and mortality was examined using Cox regression, adjusted for potential confounding factors. Separate models were computed for men and women. RESULTS: From 1174 individuals with BP data, the date of death was known for 1158 (99%). A significant association was found between disabling BP and mortality (hazard ratio: 1.4; 95% confidence interval: 1.1-1.8) and this remained, albeit of borderline significance, following adjustment for socio-demographic variables and potential disease markers (1.3; 0.99-1.7). Further, this association was found to vary with sex: women experienced a 40% increase in the risk of mortality associated with disabling BP (1.4; 1.1-1.9), whereas no such increase was observed for men (1.0; 0.5-1.9). Participants with non-disabling BP were not at increased risk of mortality. CONCLUSIONS: This study confirmed previous findings regarding the relationship between pain and excess mortality. Further, we have shown that, among older adults, this association is specific to disabling pain and to women. Clinicians should be aware not only of the short-term implications of disabling BP but also the longer-term effects. Future research should attempt to understand the mechanisms underpinning this relationship to avoid excess mortality and should aim to determine why the relationship differs in men and women.

Pain and mortality risk among elderly persons in Sweden.

The aim of this study is to analyse how the mortality risk varies with mild or severe pain in different locations: chest, back and hips, shoulders, the extremities, abdomen, rectum and head. A Swedish nationally representative sample of 1930 persons born 1892-1915 were interviewed in 1968 (ages 53-76). Survivors were also interviewed in 1974 and 1981 if they had not passed the age of 75 years. Proportional hazard regression was used to analyze mortality risk among persons ages 53-98 years for the period 1968-1991. Relationships were found between mortality risk and headache, chest pain, abdominal pain, pain in the extremities and rectal pain. No relationships were found between mortality and pain in back and hips or in shoulders. There was a correlation between chest pain and increased mortality among both men and women, but the association was significantly stronger among men. There was a significant association between severe rectal pain and mortality among men but no similar association among women. Significant associations between mortality and chest pain and abdominal pain were found among persons younger than 80 years, but not among those older than 80 years. Pain is an indicator of the quality of life and a symptom of underlying medical conditions. The finding that there are relationships between mortality risk and pain in the chest, abdomen, rectum, the extremities and head may be of clinical relevance. These results, however, must be further investigated since the relationships between reported pain and mortality do not imply that pain in these locations is necessarily symptomatic of lethal diseases. Abdominal pain, rectal pain and headache may be indicators of diseases but can also be side effects of treatments for other diseases correlated with higher mortality.

The impact of psychologically different patient groups on outcome after a vocational rehabilitation program for long-term spinal pain patients.

A better knowledge of differential treatment outcomes for subgroups of chronic spinal pain patients may, for instance, help clinicians in treatment planning or pain researchers in treatment outcome research. The purpose of this prospective study was to evaluate the predictive validity of a subgroup classification based on the Swedish version of the (West Haven Yale) Multidimensional Pain Inventory, the MPI-S. Patients referred to a vocational rehabilitation program were classified into one of three groups, labeled 'adaptive copers', 'dysfunctional' patients, and 'interpersonally distressed' patients, and followed over an 18-month follow-up period. The outcome variables were absence from work (defined as sick listing plus early retirement), general health status, and utilization of health care resources. To our knowledge, the predictive validity of the MPI subgroups has not been evaluated regarding sick listing and early retirement after rehabilitation. As hypothesized, the results showed that the 'dysfunctional' patient group had significantly more registered absences from work and reported higher utilization of health care, over the follow-up period compared to the 'adaptive copers'. Furthermore, as hypothesized, the 'interpersonally distressed' and 'dysfunctional' patient groups report a poorer general health status than the 'adaptive copers' over the whole follow-up period. However, contrary to our hypothesis, the proportion of improved patients did not differ significantly between the subgroups. Altogether, the predictive validity of the MPI-S subgroup classification was mainly confirmed. The clinical implications of this study suggest that the matching of treatment to patient needs may enhance treatment outcome, reduce pain and suffering among chronic spinal pain patients and facilitate a better health economic allocation of treatment resources.

Association of back pain frequency with mortality, coronary heart events, mobility, and quality of life in elderly women.

STUDY DESIGN: A 5-year observational cohort design using data from a randomized controlled trial of calcium intervention. OBJECTIVE: To describe the epidemiology of back pain and determine the association of back pain frequency to mortality, coronary heart events, mobility, and quality of life in elderly women. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA: Although back pain is a common physical symptom in the elderly, little is known of its effects and long-term outcomes. METHODS: The study subjects were 1484 community dwelling Australian women 70 to 85 years of age. At baseline and 5 years, back pain frequency was assessed by self-report, mobility by the Timed Up and Go Test (TUAG) and Quality of Life by the SF-36 questionnaire. The all cause of death data were ascertained from death certificates available for all deaths over 5 years, and incident clinical coronary heart disease (CHD) data were adjudicated from patient diaries verified by primary care physician and medication records. RESULTS: At baseline and 5 years, 21.7% and 26.9% subjects experienced daily back pain (> or = 1/day) and 27.6% and 24.4% subjects experienced frequent back pain (1/mo to 1/day), respectively. Compared with those with infrequent (< 1/mo) back pain, subjects with daily back pain had significantly lower quality of life physical component score and mobility as assessed by TUAG at both baseline and 5 years. Daily back was associated with greater overall mortality risk (hazards ratio = 2.03; 95% confidence interval, 1.14-3.60) and greater risk of CHD mortality and new CHD diagnosis (hazards ratio = 2.13; 95% CI, 1.35-3.34) after adjusted for baseline age. The effects remained significant after further adjustment for cardiovascular risk factors and physical activity level. CONCLUSION: Daily back pain is associated with reduced quality of life, mobility and longevity and increased risk of coronary heart events. The adverse health effects of chronic back pain deserve greater recognition.

[Surgical treatment and prognosis factors in spinal metastases of breast cancer]. / Chirurgische Behandlung und Prognosefaktoren von Wirbelsäulenmetastasen bei Mamma-Karzinom.

AIM: The aim of this study was the evaluation of surgical therapy results and prognosis factors in patients with spinal metastases of breast cancer. METHODS: 55 patients with spinal metastases of breast cancer who were treated surgically were retrospectively evaluated. In 11 patients the cervical, in 27 patients the thoracic and in 17 patients the lumbar spine was affected. RESULTS: Postoperatively, 45 patients (81.8 %) described a reduction in pain and 5 patients (50 %) reported a neurological improvement. Perioperative complications appeared in 27 patients (49.1 %), 2 patients died. For the entire group, the mean postoperative survival was 27.2 +/- 28.6 months and the median survival 16.2 months. In patients with solitary metastasis the univariate analysis did not show a significantly longer postoperative survival than in patients with additional visceral metastases (p = 0.0659), but patients with solitary metastasis showed a significantly longer survival than those with multiple osseous and/or visceral metastases (p = 0.0325). In the univariate analysis, the classification of the primary tumour, the duration of symptoms, the localisation of the metastases, the patient's age and the kind of surgical procedure (posterior stabilising instrumentation versus combined posterior-anterior treatment with intralesional resection of the affected vertebra and vertebral body replacement) did not show a significant influence on the postoperative survival. The multivariate analysis did not show a significant prognostic influence for the potentially prognostic factors, however, solitary and multiple metastasis showed the highest statistical influence for the prognosis (p = 0.1187), followed by the classification of the primary tumour (p = 0.1243). CONCLUSION: Pain reduction and neurological improvement can be reached by a stabilisation of the diseased spinal region. Patients with spinal metastases due to breast cancer showed a relatively long postoperative median and mean survival. Therefore, the preoperative evaluation of extent of the disease and the therapy concept should be individually adapted. The surgical procedure (posterior stabilising instrumentation versus combined posterior-anterior approach with vertebrectomy and vertebral body replacement) does not significantly influence the survival.