Patients in general practice in Denmark referred to physiotherapists: A description of patient characteristics based on general health status, diagnoses, and sociodemographic characteristics

Background and Purpose. Both musculoskeletal illness and mental illness cha racterized by somatic symptoms are common in primary care, and it is hypoth esized that many patients with musculoskeletal illness have relatively poor mental health. The purpose of this study was to describe the characteristi cs of patients in general practice in Denmark who are referred to physiothe rapists with signs and symptoms of musculoskeletal illness. Subjects and Me thods. One hundred ninety-four general practitioners, representing 124 prac tices, participated in a survey of 2,042 consecutive patients with musculos keletal illness. Results. The diagnoses were generally poorly defined. Comp ared with the general population, patients with musculoskeletal illness had markedly poorer physical health and poorer mental health. Patients with po orly defined diagnoses did not differ from patients with well-defined diagn oses in terms of physical health, but they scored lower on the mental healt h component summary scale of the Danish version of the Medical Outcomes Stu dy 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36). Conclusion and Discussion. Of the patients referred to physiotherapists by general practitioners in Denma rk, the subgroup with poorly defined diagnoses had lower mental health scor es than those with well-defined diagnoses, suggesting that a biopsychosocia l approach to care may be appropriate for this group of patients.