ReviewArchives of physiotherapy
Red flags for potential serious pathologies in people with neck pain: a systematic review of clinical practice guidelines.
Review in Archives of physiotherapy. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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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.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Standardized Definition of Red Flags in Musculoskeletal Care: A Comprehensive Review of Clinical Practice Guidelines.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2025Pooled it
- Performance of referral strategies for patients with suspected axial spondyloarthritis: a systematic review with meta-analysis.EClinicalMedicine · 2026Article
- Observational
- Frequency and Indications of Non-Musculoskeletal Examinations: A Cross-Sectional Survey of South African Chiropractors.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Implementation of Direct Access Physiotherapy Policy in Saudi Arabia: Insights from Practicing Physiotherapists: A Cross-Sectional Study.Risk management and healthcare policy · 2026Article
- A population-based survey of beliefs about neck pain and its associated disorders: a cross-sectional study.BMC musculoskeletal disorders · 2025Article
- Diagnostic Utility of Red Flags for Detecting Spinal Malignancies in Patients with Low Back Pain: A Scoping Review.Journal of clinical medicine · 2025Review
- Diagnostic prediction models for spinal fractures in individuals with spinal pain or trauma: a systematic review and meta-analysis.EClinicalMedicine · 2025Article
- Cervical facet joint interventions for neck pain: an anatomically and clinically focused review.Anesthesia and pain medicine · 2025Review
- Assessment of differential diagnostic skills of physiotherapists related to the cervical spine - approaches to improving effectiveness: observational, cross-sectional study.BMC medical education · 2025Observational
- Understanding degenerative cervical myelopathy in musculoskeletal practice.The Journal of manual & manipulative therapy · 2025Review
- Red flags for potential serious pathologies in people with neck pain: a systematic review of clinical practice guidelines.Archives of physiotherapyReview
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Introduction: We conducted a systematic review of clinical practice guidelines to identify red flags for serious pathologies in neck pain mentioned in clinical practice guidelines, to evaluate agreement in red flag recommendations across guidelines, and to investigate the level of evidence including what study type the recommendations are based on. Methods: We searched for guidelines focusing on specific and nonspecific neck pain in MEDLINE, EMBASE, and PEDro up to June 9, 2023. Additionally, we searched for guidelines through citation tracking strategies, by consulting experts in the field, and by checking guideline organization databases. Results: We included 29 guidelines, 12 of which provided a total of 114 red flags for fracture (n = 17), cancer (n = 21), spinal infection (n = 14), myelopathy (n = 15), injury to the spinal cord (n = 1), artery dissection (n = 7), intracranial pathology (n = 3), inflammatory arthritis (n = 2), other systemic disease (n = 6), or unrelated to a specific condition (n = 19). Overall, there is very little agreement (median Fleiss' kappa of 0) between guidelines on the red flags to screen for serious pathologies. Conclusion: Red flags were mainly supported by expert opinions. We also observed a general lack of consensus among guidelines regarding which red flags to endorse. Considering the current limitations of the evidence, specific recommendations on which red flags to use cannot be provided, except for using the Canadian C-Spine rule for screening posttraumatic fractures.
Indexed as
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Registered trials
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.