5 Minute Poster Presentation ARA-NSW 2020 - 42nd Annual NSW Branch Meeting

Are musculoskeletal conditions are neglected in national health surveys: a systematic review (#28)

Giovanni Ferreira 1 2 , Rachelle Buchbinder 3 4 , Joshua Zadro 1 2 , Mary O'Keeffe 2 , Priti Kharel 1 2 , Lidia Carballo-Costa 5 , Juliana Oliveira 1 2 , Christopher Maher 2
  1. The University of Sydney, Camperdown, NSW, Australia
  2. Institute for Musculoskeletal Health, Institute for Musculoskeletal Health, Sydney Local Health District & The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
  3. Monash Department of Clinical Epidemiology, Monash Department of Clinical Epidemiology, Cabrini Institute, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
  4. Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, School of Public Health & Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
  5. Faculty of Physiotherapy, Universidade da Coruña, A Coruña, Galicia, Spain

Background: It is unclear to what extent musculoskeletal conditions are considered in national health surveys, and whether these surveys capture relevant aspects of disease burden, such as condition-specific activity limitation, pain severity and work absence.

Methods: Systematic review with searches performed on Google, the Global Health Data Exchange website and each country’s National Statistics Office website on December 10th 2019 to obtain national health surveys from the 218 countries listed by the World Bank. Main outcomes were the proportion of surveys that contained: (i) questions on the prevalence of musculoskeletal conditions; (ii) condition-specific questions about activity limitation, severity of pain, and work absence. Data are presented as frequencies and proportions.

Results: We identified 169 national health surveys (79% of World Bank listed countries). Sixty-one (36.1%), the majority from high-income countries (42, 68·9%), measured prevalence of at least one musculoskeletal condition. Osteoarthritis (52, 85.2%), low back pain (38, 62.3%) and neck pain (36, 59%) were the most commonly measured, while rheumatoid arthritis and gout prevalences were only measured in 10 (16.4%) and 3 (4.9%) surveys, respectively. A minority of surveys assessed condition-specific activity limitation (6, 9.8%), pain severity (5, 8.2%) and work absence (1, 1.6%).  

Conclusion: Musculoskeletal conditions are being neglected in the majority of national health surveys, particularly in low and middle-income countries. Monitoring musculoskeletal conditions through ongoing national health surveys is crucial for the development and evaluation of health policies to reduce their burden.