Evidence map›Paper›PMID 32760586›Full record

ArticleArchives of public health = Archives belges de sante publique2020

Measuring disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) due to low back pain in Malta.

Sarah Cuschieri, Grant M A Wyper, Neville Calleja, Vanessa Gorasso, Brecht Devleesschauwer

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Article in Archives of public health = Archives belges de sante publique, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
8citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

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Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

8 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

Sarah CuschieriDepartment of Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine and Surgery, University of Malta, Msida, Malta.ORCID 0000-0003-2012-9234
Grant M A WyperPublic Health Scotland, Meridian Court, 5 Cadogan Street, Glasgow, G2 6QE Scotland.
Neville CallejaDepartment of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine and Surgery, University of Malta, Msida, Malta.
Vanessa GorassoDepartment of Epidemiology and Public Health, Sciensano, Brussels, Belgium.
Brecht DevleesschauwerDepartment of Epidemiology and Public Health, Sciensano, Brussels, Belgium.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundLow back pain (LBP) is a public health concern and a leading cause of ill health. A high prevalence of musculoskeletal complaints has been reported for Malta, a small European state. The aim was to estimate for the first time the burden of LBP at population level in Malta in terms of disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) and compare to estimates obtained by the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study.

methodThe Maltese European Health Interview Survey dataset for 2015 provided the LBP prevalence data through representative self-reported history of chronic LBP within the past 12 months in combination with limitations to daily activities. Proportions of LBP severity (with and without leg pain - mild, moderate, severe and most severe) and their corresponding disability weights followed values reported in the GBD study. Years lived with disability (YLD) for LBP were estimated for the whole population by age and sex. Since LBP does not carry any mortality, YLD reflected DALYs. The estimated local DALYs per 100,000 were compared to the GBD 2017 study results for Malta for the same year.

resultsLBP with activity limitation gave a point prevalence of 6.4% (95% Uncertainty Interval [UI] 5.7-7.2%) (5.6% males [95% UI 4.6-6.6%]; 7.3% females [95% UI 6.2-8.4%]), contributing to a total of 23,649 (95% UI 20,974-26,463) Maltese suffering from LBP. The LBP DALYs were of 716 (95% UI 558-896) per 100,000. Females experienced higher LBP burden (739 [95% UI 575-927] DALYs per 100,000) than males (693 [95% UI 541-867] DALYs per 100,000). Our DALY estimates were lower than those reported by the GBD 2017 study (i.e., 1829 [95% UI 1300-2466] per 100,000).

conclusionsLBP imposes a substantial burden on the Maltese population. Differences observed between national estimates and those of the GBD study suggest the integration of updated locally sourced data into the model and encouraging local contributors in order to improve the DALY estimates of each country.

Indexed as

BurdenBurden of diseaseEpidemiologyEuropean burden of disease networkLow back painMaltaOutcome researchYLL, YLD, DALYs, GBD

Identifiers

PMID32760586
PMCPMC7379821

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.