BMJ No 7141 Volume 316
Press Releases Saturday 2 May 1998
BACK PAIN WILL KEEP COMING BACK IF NOT TREATED
EARLY
HEART ATTACK REHABILITATION NEEDS TO BE MORE
COMPREHENSIVE
BACK PAIN WILL KEEP COMING BACK IF NOT TREATED EARLY
(Outcome of low back pain in general practice: a prospective study)
http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/316/7141/1356
Three quarters of people who go to see their doctor with a new episode
of
lower back pain are still suffering symptoms a year later, find Dr
Gary
Macfarlane et al in their study in south Manchester, which is published
in
this week's BMJ. Low back pain is a common reason for people
to visit
their GP and during any 12 month period, seven per cent of the adult
population will consult with this problem.
Previously it has been thought that 90 per cent of back pain sufferers
are
relieved of their discomfort within six weeks of seeing their GP.
Macfarlane and colleagues discovered that in fact most people with
lower
back problems stop consulting their doctor after three months but continue
to experience pain and related disability one year later. The
authors
propose that low back pain should be viewed as a chronic condition
and
effective early treatment could help to reduce the burden of patients
symptoms and minimise their social, economic and medical impact.
Contact:
Dr Alan Silman, ARC Epidemiology Research Unit, School of Epidemiology
and
Health Services, University of Manchester, Stopford Building, Manchester
A.silman{at}man.ac.uk
HEART ATTACK REHABILITATION NEEDS TO BE MORE COMPREHENSIVE
(Adherence to cardiac rehabilitation
guidelines: a survey of
rehabilitation programmes in the UK)
http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/316/7141/1354
Adherence to guidelines suggesting that cardiac patients should receive
tailor-made rehabilitation programmes is poor, say Professor Robert
Lewin
et al from the Institute of Rehabilitation at the University of Hull
in
this week's BMJ. The authors found in their study of over 273
cardiac
rehabilitation programmes in the UK, that few physicians play a part
in
rehabilitation programmes and there is little in the way of assessment
of
patients needs. The authors find this particularly worrying as
efforts to
prevent further heart attacks should be an important goal of
rehabilitation.
Lewin et al conclude that those responsible for commissioning a cardiac
rehabilitation service should ensure that it is adequately resourced
to
allow the appropriate care to be administered.
Contact:
Professor Robert Lewin, British Heart Foundation Rehabilitation Research
Unit, Department of Health Studies, University of York, York
rjpl1{at}york.ac.uk
(Models of cardiac rehabilitation. Multidisciplinary rehabilitation
is
worthwhile, but how is it best delivered?)
http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/316/7141/1329
In an accompanying editorial in this week's BMJ, Professor David de
Bono
discusses the paper by Lewin et al and adds that further consideration
should also be given to whether cardiac rehabilitation should be hospital
or community based and concludes by noting that the shift of emphasis
from
general practitioner fundholding to community commissioning may provide
a
unique opportunity to set up integrated rehabilitation services.
Contact:
Professor David de Bono, Professor of Cardiology, Department of Medicine
and Therapeutics, University of Leicester, Glenfield Hospital, Leicester
daviddebono{at}compuserve.com
For accredited journalists
Embargoed press releases:
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Tavistock Square, London WC1H 9JR
(contact Jill Shepherd;jshepher{at}bma.org.uk)
and from
the EurekAlert website, run by the American Association for the
Advancement of Science (http://www.eurekalert.org)
Please remember to mention the BMJ as source when publicising an article
and to inform your readers that they can read its full text on the
journal's web site (http://www.bmj.com).
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