HPE Chronic pain – part two | Page 3

FUNCTIONAL OUTCOMES Chronic low back pain: Relevance of functional outcomes Functionality is the main consideration when evaluating the efficacy of chronic low back pain treatments. There is no one validated or perfect tool for measuring functionality, but clinicians can use any of a number of questionnaires in daily clinical practice Concepción Pérez MD PhD Elena Rojo MD Dolores Ochoa PhD MD Manuel Muñoz MD Noelia Sánchez Pain Clinic and Clinical Pharmacology Department, Hospital Universitario de la Princesa, Madrid, Spain Chronic low back pain (cLBP) has a high life-time prevalence. Overall,the annual prevalence of cLBP has been reported to range from 15% to 45%,with a point prevalence of 30%. 1 Furthermore, as the population ages over the coming decades, the number of individuals with cLBP is likely to increase substantially. 1 Other research has evaluated the prevalence and incidence in different ways, determining the prevalence and incidence estimates based on routinely collected data, which ranged from 1.4–20.0% and 0.024–7.0%, respectively. 2 Findings have shown risk factors include gender and belonging to certain subgroups such as the elderly. 2 The economic cost is high; for example, in a Swedish study, the indirect costs due to lost productivity were sizeable and accounted for 84% of the total cost. 3 The largest proportion of direct medical costs were for physical therapy (17%) and inpatient services (17%), followed by pharmacy (13%) and primary care (13%). 4 Among studies providing estimates of total costs, indirect costs resulting from lost work productivity represented most of the overall costs. Assuming that US direct cost estimates of $12.2 to $90.6 billion represent only 14.5% of total costs, the total US costs attributable could be estimated at $84.1 to $624.8 billion. 4 In addition to this, cLBP has been the primary cause of disability globally since 1990, and the years lived with disability caused by cLBP have increased by more than 50% since then. 5 The causes might be different, but population growth and ageing are crucial factors in this increase. Disability is higher in working age groups, and social isolation of elders can occur due to functional decline. 6–8 In a recent study, pain and disability were GETTY hospitalpharmacyeurope.com | 2020 | 3