Estimating Prevalence of Serious Spinal Pathology in Patients Presenting to the Emergency Department With Low Back Pain: Misrepresentation of Prospective Studies

The systematic review by Galliker et al1 summarized the results of 21 studies relating to the prevalence of serious spinal pathology in people presenting to the emergency department with low back pain. The prevalence was estimated separately for studies with prospective, cross-sectional, and retrospective designs. The review highlighted the lack of high-quality prospective studies on prevalence. Given this, accurate reporting of the included prospective studies is important.
Source: The American Journal of Medicine - Category: General Medicine Authors: Tags: Letter Source Type: research