GHENT, Belgium – Over 10% of patients referred by chiropractors to rheumatology had undiagnosed spondyloarthritis, with axial spondyloarthritis being the most common, according to new data. The U.S. study was aimed at understanding what proportion ofThe study also found that the most common cause for which patients see chiropractors is neck/cervical pain.
He remarked that the study highlighted the need to develop a better strategy to identify undiagnosed patients, because the yield found in their study was poor ."Patient-reported spondyloarthritis criteria are often poor, and do not match rheumatologist-inquired history," he noted, adding that,"inflammatory back pain is in fact a poor 'entry point.'"
He added that he welcomed the study but noted,"the criteria used to identify patients in this study are broad and I'd worry that it would inundate our rheumatology practice. There remains a real need for a good method of identifying the patients."Back pain is highly prevalent in the general population, with a global mean lifetime prevalence of 38.9%. Chiropractors treat many patients with back pain of unknown cause.
Deodhar and colleagues recruited chiropractors from four different parts of the city of Portland into the study."We think Portland, Oregon, is a typical U.S. city, and our results could be generalized. However, this is our impression alone," he remarked.