Symptom burden and follow-up of patients with neck and back complaints in specialized outpatient care: a national register study.

Back and neck pain are common in the population, especially among immigrants. In Norway's specialist care system, treating these patients typically involves a multidisciplinary approach based on the biopsychosocial model. However, language and cultural differences may create barriers to participation. Immigrants are often underrepresented in clinical studies, but a register-based approach can enhance their participation in research. This study aimed to compare both the symptom burden, and treatment, among Norwegians, non-Norwegians, and patients requiring translator service for back and neck pain within the Norwegian specialist care system. The Norwegian neck and back registry is a National Quality Register, established in 2012 and fully digitized in late 2020. The baseline data includes demographics and patient recorded outcome measures including Oswestry Disability Index, Fear-Avoidance Beliefs, pain rating on a numeric rating scale, Hopkins Symptom Checklist and EuroQol five-dimensional questionnaire on health related quality of life. During the two-year study period, a total of 14,124 patients were invited, and 10,060 (71%) participated. Norwegian patients reported less pain, better function assessed by Oswestry Disability Index, lower fear avoidance beliefs, less emotional distress, and higher health related quality of life compared to non-Norwegians. We found that patients with female gender, who were younger, more educated and exhibited fear-avoidance behavior were significantly more likely to receive multidisciplinary treatment. We found no difference in the proportion of Norwegian and non-Norwegian patients receiving multidisciplinary treatment [odds ratio (OR) 1.02 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.90-1.16)]. However, patients needing a translator were less likely to receive multidisciplinary treatment compared to those who didn't require translation [OR 0.41 (95% CI (0.25-0.66)]. We found that non-Norwegian patients experience a higher symptom burden compared to Norwegian. We found that both non-Norwegians and patient in need of translator were to a greater extent recommended treatment in primary health care. The proportion of non-Norwegians patients receiving multidisciplinary treatment was similar to Norwegians, but those needing a translator were less likely to receive such treatment.