Context: Acceptance of chiropractic services as an effective therapy for neck or back pain has been well established with randomized controlled trials (RCTs); however, there have been limited observations made on the treatment frequency patterns seen in the real world.
Objective: The purpose of this study is to identify chiropractic users with neck or back pain who did not meet recommended treatment frequency guidelines and examine their demographics and chiropractic costs.
Design: In this cross-sectional retrospective study, the nationally representative 2017 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey database was used.
Setting: This study used nationally representative US survey data.
Participants: Inclusion criteria were adults aged 18 years and older with a diagnosis of neck or back pain with one or more chiropractic visits in 2017.
Outcomes measures: Chiropractic utilization was categorized as concordant or discordant with treatment frequency guidelines; concordant was defined as 5 or more visits to a chiropractor within any 2-month time frame or at least 12 total visits during the year. Discordant was defined as circumstances not meeting concordant criteria. The groups were compared by demographics including age, sex, race, region, years of education, health insurance coverage, employment status, family income, presence of headache diagnosis, Charlson Comorbidity Index score and the presence of any limitation of physical function. Comparisons were made between the two groups using Chi-squared tests. Logistic regression was used to adjust for covariates.
Results: There were 159 and 310 adults classified as concordant and discordant, respectively (weighted total: 1 849 108 [31.44%] and 4 032 541 [68.56%], with significantly different mean chiropractic costs of $2555 and $434, respectively. Significant independent predictors of discordant chiropractic utilization were race, years of education, family income and the presence of any limitation of physical function.
Conclusions: Most chiropractic users with diagnosed neck or back pain were considered discordant with treatment frequency guidelines, which may indicate inefficiencies in treatment and inefficient use of healthcare resources.