Characteristics of patients with low back pain treated at a primary care center in Ecuador

Low back pain is a public health problem due to its high prevalence and burden of the disease. This study aimed to determine the characteristics of patients with low back pain treated at the Centro de Salud N1 from Ibarra, between January 2017 and November 2020. Two-thousand fifty-five consultations for low back pain were included, observing an increase during the study period, except for 2020 (53.78% fewer consultations than 2019). Consultation for low back pain was more frequent in women than men (64.18% vs 35.82%; z-score 12.87, p <0.05). The age in men (median 49 years, interquartile range 30.75 years) was significantly higher (p=0.003) than in women (median 46 years, interquartile range 25 years). The cumulative frequency of consultations was higher between 28-60 years, mostly (67.98%) due to unspecified low back pain. Four-point seventy-nine percent of the consultations were referred to secondary care, where most (69.77%) had a specific diagnostic coding for low back pain. Regarding subsequent consultations (220 patients), most had 2 (9.05%) and less frequent ≥3 (1.65%) yearly consultations. In conclusion, there was an increase in the frequency of consultations for low back pain, predominant in the working-age groups, with a low percentage referred to secondary care.