Fibromyalgia & musculoskeletal pain
Assessing the impact of health-care access on the severity of low back pain by country: a case study within the GBD framework
Authors' conclusion
This methodology fills an important shortcoming in the GBD by accounting for low back pain severity variations over time and between countries.
Study context
- Population
- Low back pain burden by country and over time, GBD framework; treatment effects for ten interventions from the Cochrane Database, coverage data from US Medical Expenditure Panel Surveys (MEPS)trials from 36 Cochrane reviews
- Participants
- 210 trials
- Comparison
- Access to low back pain treatment (graded by Health Access and Quality Index) vs hypothetical severity in the absence of treatment
- Outcome
- Effect of exposure to health interventions on the severity of low back pain (averted and avoidable burden)
Methodological detailsnetwork analysis, GBD framework, Cochrane systematic reviews
- Network analysis
- GBD framework
- Cochrane systematic reviews
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
Low back pain burden · 2020
Burden averted globally by access to treatment, 2020
17.6% (14.8 to 23.8) (95% UI)
Extra burden avoidable if all countries had access at Iceland's level (highest HAQ Index)
9.1%
6.4 to 11.2
Burden unavoidable even with full coverage of optimal treatment
65.9%
56.9 to 70.4
Further findings
Pooled effect sizes (SMD) of most effective intervention classes
| SMD (95% UI) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Combination of psychological and physical interventionsUncertainty interval | −0.460 (−0.606 to −0.309) | |
| SurgeryUncertainty interval | −0.366 (−0.525 to −0.207) | |
| −1−0.500.5Difference (linear scale) |
Original publication
Assessing the impact of health-care access on the severity of low back pain by country: a case study within the GBD framework. Lancet Rheumatol. Published 16 July 2024. doi:10.
Composed by AI from the published abstract and checked against it. How Briefs are made →