To assess the annual consultation prevalence and new onset consultation rate for doctor-diagnosed shoulder pain conditions.

Objective: Low back pain (LBP) affects most people at some stage in life. However, the burden on the health care system is unclear. We studied: 1) the 1‐year consultation prevalence, 2) the rate of first‐time consultation for LBP and the relationship of the frequency to other musculoskeletal conditions, and 3) the health care utilization of patients with LBP compared to the general population.Methods: Using the health care register in Southern Sweden (population 1.2 million), including diagnoses (International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, Tenth Revision) by physicians, we identified all patients who in 2009 were diagnosed with LBP, defined as lumbago with sciatica, low back pain, or other/unspecified dorsalgia. We defined first‐time consultation as a consultation in 2009 without a record of an LBP diagnosis in 2004–2008. Standardized health care utilization ratios were calculated for LBP patients compared to the general population seeking care.Results: The 1‐year consultation prevalence of LBP in the population was 3.8% (4.3% for women, 3.3% for men) and increased with age. LBP had been recorded in 17.1% of all patients (16.5% for women, 18.0% for men) who had been diagnosed with any musculoskeletal condition. The rate of first‐time consultation was 238 per 10,000 adults (265 for women, 209 for men). The health care utilization ratios in female and male patients with LBP were 1.74 (95% confidence interval [95% CI] 1.73–1.75) and 1.81 (95% CI 1.80–1.82), respectively.Conclusion: LBP, diagnosed in every sixth patient who consulted due to a musculoskeletal problem, is a public health concern that needs structured management. Patients with LBP consume close to twice as much health care as the general population and this warrants more awareness.

Introduction: Soft tissue knee injury is a well-established and potent risk factor for development of knee osteoarthritis. However, there is a paucity of epidemiological data from the general population. Our aim was to estimate the annual person-level incidence for a wide spectrum of clinically diagnosed soft tissue knee injuries, and their distribution by age, sex, and season. Methods: In Sweden, in- and outpatient health care is registered using each individuals’ unique personal identifier including International Classification of Diseases (ICD) 10 diagnostic code(s) as determined by physicians’ clinical examination. For the calendar years 2004–2012, we studied the population in southern Sweden, Skåne region (approx. 1.3 million). We identified residents who had at least one visit to a physician with clinically diagnosed knee ligament, meniscal, or other soft-tissue injury (S80.0, S83 and all subdiagnoses). We then calculated the mean annual incidence over the 9-year period. As a secondary objective, we investigated potential seasonal variation. Results: The annual incidence for males and females was 766 (95% CI: 742, 789) and 676 (649, 702) per 100,000 persons/year respectively. For males and females, the peak rate occurred in 15 to 19 year-olds (1698 per 100,000 men and 1464 per 100,000 women, respectively). In women, rates were lowest in the 25 to 34 year-old age range before rising again between the ages of 35 and 49 years. We found substantial seasonal variation, greatest in men, with peaks in March-May and August-October. Conclusions: The incidence of clinically diagnosed soft-tissue knee injury peaks in adolescence and emerging adulthood. However, a range of knee injuries continue to occur across the adult lifespan including at ages when osteoarthritis is typically diagnosed and managed. The potential cumulative effect on osteoarthritis progression of these injuries may warrant further investigation.

Objectives To investigate known and suggested risk factors associated with cerebral palsy in a Swedish birth cohort, stratified by gestational age. Setting Information on all births between 1995 and 2014 in Skåne, the southernmost region in Sweden, was extracted from the national birth register. Participants The cohort comprised a total of 215 217 children. Information on confirmed cerebral palsy and subtype was collected from the national quality register for cerebral palsy (Cerebral Palsy Follow-up Surveillance Programme). Primary and secondary outcome measures We calculated the prevalence of risk factors suggested to be associated with cerebral palsy and used logistic regression models to investigate the associations between potential risk factors and cerebral palsy. All analyses were stratified by gestational age; term (≥37 weeks), moderately or late preterm (32–36 weeks) and very preterm (<32 weeks). Results In all, 381 (0.2 %) children were assigned a cerebral palsy diagnosis. Among term children, maternal preobesity/obesity, small for gestational age, malformations, induction, elective and emergency caesarian section, Apgar <7 at 5 min and admission to neonatal care were significantly associated with cerebral palsy (all p values<0.05). Among children born moderately or late preterm, small for gestational age, malformations, elective and emergency caesarian section and admission to neonatal care were all associated with cerebral palsy (all p values 0.05). Conclusion Our results support and strengthen previous findings on factors associated with cerebral palsy. The complete lack of significant associations among children born very preterm probably depends on to the small number of children with cerebral palsy in this group.

Background: There is no consensus on best content, set-up, category of involved healthcare professionals or duration of rehabilitation-programs for patients with chronic musculoskeletal pain, and outcomes show varying results. Individual care regimes for sub-groups of patients have been proposed. Aim: To describe the type of interventions used in a physiotherapist-led, rehabilitation-program for patients with chronic musculoskeletal pain, refractory to preceding treatments. A second aim was to report clinical outcomes at 1-year follow-up after the intervention period. Methods: All patients referred to physiotherapist within a specialist pain-unit due to being refractory to preceding treatments, and deemed fit to undergo physiotherapy-based, individualized rehabilitation during 2014–2018 were consecutively included and followed-up 1 year after ending the program. The inclusion was based on structured ‘clinical reasoning’ using the referral, examination and on patient-relevant outcome measures. The individual interventions, recorded according to a manual used when reading the patients’ medical records, were described. Primary outcomes were clinical results of perceived pain, disability and overall health at start, discharge and 1 year after discharge. Results: In total, 274 patients (mean age 42 years, 71% women) were included, suffering from chronic, severe, musculoskeletal pain (VAS median 7/10, duration median 2.8 years) and moderate disability. The most frequent interventions were education, sensorimotor training, physical activity-advice and interventions for structures/functions (for example manual techniques, stretching) for a median of nine sessions during five months. Despite refractory to preceding treatments, 45% of the patients rated clinically important improvements on pain, 61% on disability and 50% on overall health at discharge and the figures were similar at 1-year follow-up. Conclusions: A physiotherapist-led, one-to-one, rehabilitation-program of median nine sessions during five months, combining individualized education, sensorimotor training, physical activity-advice and interventions for structures/functions rendered clinically relevant improvements on pain, disability and overall health in half of the patients at 1-year follow-up. Since the cohort consisted of patients refractory to preceding treatments, we believe that these results warrant further studies to identify the subgroups of patients with chronic musculoskeletal pain that will improve from new, distinctive, resource-effective rehabilitation-programs involving individualized rehabilitation.