Neck pain in Hong Kong: a telephone survey on prevalence, consequences, and risk groups.

STUDY DESIGN: A cross-sectional telephone survey was conducted using a two-stage randomization process. OBJECTIVES: The objectives of this paper were to investigate the prevalence of neck pain and their consequences and risk groups in the Hong Kong population. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA: There has been a lack of recent information on the prevalence and consequences of neck pain in the population of Hong Kong. METHODS: A total of 664 subjects were interviewed on the socio-demographic characteristics, occurrence, and consequences of neck pain. A random sample of the respondents was reinterviewed after 7 to 10 days later, by another interviewer for the reliability check. RESULTS: The lifetime prevalence of neck pain was 65.4% (95% confidence interval, 61.8%-69.0%). The 12-month prevalence was 53.6% (41.0% in male, 59.0% in female) (95% confidence interval, 49.8%-57.4%). About 15.0% of these patients had moderate to severe pain. Moreover, 4.5% of these subjects had to limit their social activities and 3.1% had to limit their work. Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that females, managers, administrators, and professionals have a high risk of neck pain in the population of Hong Kong. CONCLUSION: Neck pain is highly prevalent in Hong Kong, particularly among females, managers, administrators, and professionals.