THE SASKATCHEWAN HEALTH AND BACK PAIN SURVEY - THE PREVALENCE OF NECKPAIN AND RELATED DISABILITY IN SASKATCHEWAN ADULTS

Study Design. Population-based, cross-sectional mailed survey. Objecti ve. To determine the lifetime, period, and point prevalence of neck pa in and its related disability among Saskatchewan adults and investigat e the presence and strength of nonresponse bias. Summary of Background Data. In Europe, the lifetime and point prevalence of neck pain is al most as high as the prevalence of low back pain. Similarly, chronic ne ck pain is highly prevalent and a common source of disability in the w orking-age population. However: no studies specifically have documente d the prevalence of neck pain and its related disability in North Amer ica. Methods, The Saskatchewan Health and Back Pain Survey was mailed to 2184 random ly selected Saskatchewan adults aged 20-69 years. Fifty -five percent of the study population participated. The presence of no nresponse bias was investigated through logistic regression and wave a nalysis. The Chronic Pain Questionnaire was used to classify the sever ity of chronic neck pain. Results. The age-standardized lifetime preva lence of neck pain is 66.7% (95% confidence interval, 63.8-69.5), and the point prevalence is 22.2% (95% confidence interval 19.7-24.7). The age-standardized 6-month prevalence of low-intensity and low-disabili ty neck pain is 39.7% (95% confidence interval, 36.7-42.7), whereas it is 10.1% (95% confidence interval, 8.2-11.9) for high-intensity and l ow-disability neck pain and 4.6% (95% confidence interval, 3.3-5.8) fo r significantly disabling neck pain. The prevalence of low-intensity a nd low-disability neck pain decreases with age. More women experience high-disability neck pain than men. Wave analysis suggests that the po int prevalence and 6-month prevalence of high-intensity and low-disabi lity neck pain are overestimated in this survey. Conclusion. This cros s-sectional study shows that neck pain is highly prevalent in Saskatch ewan and that it significantly disables 4.6% (95% confidence interval; 3.3-5.8) of the adult population.