The symptom of night pain in a back pain triage clinic.

STUDY DESIGN: Prospective longitudinal study of patients attending a back pain triage clinic with night pain. OBJECTIVE: To assess the importance of the symptom of night pain in patients attending a back pain triage clinic. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA: The 1994 US Agency for Health Care Policy and R...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Harding, I, Davies, E, Buchanan, E, Fairbank, J
Format: Journal article
Language:English
Published: 2005
_version_ 1797060611483369472
author Harding, I
Davies, E
Buchanan, E
Fairbank, J
author_facet Harding, I
Davies, E
Buchanan, E
Fairbank, J
author_sort Harding, I
collection OXFORD
description STUDY DESIGN: Prospective longitudinal study of patients attending a back pain triage clinic with night pain. OBJECTIVE: To assess the importance of the symptom of night pain in patients attending a back pain triage clinic. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA: The 1994 US Agency for Health Care Policy and Research guidelines suggest nighttime pain should be used as a "red flag." Night pain is known to occur in many conditions, and although common in patients with known serious pathology, the prevalence of night pain in a back pain triage clinic is not known. METHODS: A total of 482 consecutive patients attending a back pain triage clinic were assessed, including history of frequency and duration of night pain. Clinical examination was performed, and demographic data obtained. Magnetic resonance imaging was performed if indicated according to local guidelines. Oswestry, visual analog scales (for pain), and hospital anxiety depression scale, patient-based outcome scores were obtained. RESULTS: There were 213 patients who had night pain, with 90 having pain every night. No serious pathology was identified. Patients with night pain had 4.95 hours continuous sleep (range 2-7) and were woken 2.5 times/night (range 0-6). Patients with pain every night had higher Oswestry, visual analog scale, and hospital anxiety depression scale scores than those who did not. CONCLUSIONS: Although it is a significant and disruptive symptom for patients, these results challenge the specificity of the presence of night pain per se as a useful diagnostic indicator for serious spinal pathology in a back pain triage clinic.
first_indexed 2024-03-06T20:19:32Z
format Journal article
id oxford-uuid:2d5043b3-57da-430c-b5b9-d1b17da2e6a6
institution University of Oxford
language English
last_indexed 2024-03-06T20:19:32Z
publishDate 2005
record_format dspace
spelling oxford-uuid:2d5043b3-57da-430c-b5b9-d1b17da2e6a62022-03-26T12:42:10ZThe symptom of night pain in a back pain triage clinic.Journal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:2d5043b3-57da-430c-b5b9-d1b17da2e6a6EnglishSymplectic Elements at Oxford2005Harding, IDavies, EBuchanan, EFairbank, J STUDY DESIGN: Prospective longitudinal study of patients attending a back pain triage clinic with night pain. OBJECTIVE: To assess the importance of the symptom of night pain in patients attending a back pain triage clinic. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA: The 1994 US Agency for Health Care Policy and Research guidelines suggest nighttime pain should be used as a "red flag." Night pain is known to occur in many conditions, and although common in patients with known serious pathology, the prevalence of night pain in a back pain triage clinic is not known. METHODS: A total of 482 consecutive patients attending a back pain triage clinic were assessed, including history of frequency and duration of night pain. Clinical examination was performed, and demographic data obtained. Magnetic resonance imaging was performed if indicated according to local guidelines. Oswestry, visual analog scales (for pain), and hospital anxiety depression scale, patient-based outcome scores were obtained. RESULTS: There were 213 patients who had night pain, with 90 having pain every night. No serious pathology was identified. Patients with night pain had 4.95 hours continuous sleep (range 2-7) and were woken 2.5 times/night (range 0-6). Patients with pain every night had higher Oswestry, visual analog scale, and hospital anxiety depression scale scores than those who did not. CONCLUSIONS: Although it is a significant and disruptive symptom for patients, these results challenge the specificity of the presence of night pain per se as a useful diagnostic indicator for serious spinal pathology in a back pain triage clinic.
spellingShingle Harding, I
Davies, E
Buchanan, E
Fairbank, J
The symptom of night pain in a back pain triage clinic.
title The symptom of night pain in a back pain triage clinic.
title_full The symptom of night pain in a back pain triage clinic.
title_fullStr The symptom of night pain in a back pain triage clinic.
title_full_unstemmed The symptom of night pain in a back pain triage clinic.
title_short The symptom of night pain in a back pain triage clinic.
title_sort symptom of night pain in a back pain triage clinic
work_keys_str_mv AT hardingi thesymptomofnightpaininabackpaintriageclinic
AT daviese thesymptomofnightpaininabackpaintriageclinic
AT buchanane thesymptomofnightpaininabackpaintriageclinic
AT fairbankj thesymptomofnightpaininabackpaintriageclinic
AT hardingi symptomofnightpaininabackpaintriageclinic
AT daviese symptomofnightpaininabackpaintriageclinic
AT buchanane symptomofnightpaininabackpaintriageclinic
AT fairbankj symptomofnightpaininabackpaintriageclinic