Observational studyJournal of evaluation in clinical practice2025
Low Back Pain Presentation and Management at the Emergency Department: Differences Between Older Adults Residing in the Community and Aged Care Homes.
Observational study in Journal of evaluation in clinical practice, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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.
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
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
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
rationaleIn healthcare systems without gatekeeper access to Emergency Departments (ED), the number of people presenting for low back pain (LBP) is increasing substantially. Low back pain presentations at the Emergency Department are rarely caused by serious underlying pathology, and management often deviates from practice guidelines. Older adults (≥ 65 years) constitute approximately 30% of all ED LBP presentations. Little is known about differences in presentation characteristics and ED management between older adults from aged care homes and those living in the community. AIMS AND
objectivesThis study aimed to identify differences in presentation and management between people presenting at the ED for LBP from aged care homes versus those residing in the community.
methodsRetrospective observational study of routinely collected healthcare data and chart audits of older adults from aged care homes (N = 64) and age and sex-matched community-dwelling older adults (N = 64) presenting to ED for LBP.
resultsPatients from aged care homes presented with more comorbidities (4 vs. 2), analgesic medication (84% vs. 70%) and polypharmacy (86% vs. 41%) and were more commonly admitted for ongoing analgesia or further diagnostic tests. Community-dwelling older adults were more frequently admitted for Allied Health input. ED administration of opiates was high for both groups (81% aged care; 91% community-dwelling). High rates of lumbar spine medical imaging (61% aged care; 50% community-dwelling) resulted in few acute radiographic findings.
conclusionsOlder patients presenting to ED for LBP receive similar management regardless of their residential status. Hospital management of both groups does not align with current published recommendations namely in respect to imaging and pain medication.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.