Background

Patients’ perceptions/expectations may be a factor behind medical imaging referral rates. Few studies have investigated the beliefs that might drive expectations of medical imaging.

Objectives

This study examined whether beliefs of young Australian adults with and without impactful low back pain (LBP) concerning medical scans for LBP align with current evidence. It also investigated if these beliefs were associated with clinical factors (history of impactful LBP, history of previous medical scans, LBP-related disability and the presence of leg pain) or sociodemographic factors (sex, education, income).

Design

Cross-sectional observational study.

Methods

78 participants from the Raine Study with a history of impactful LBP and 85 participants with no history of impactful LBP completed a study-specific questionnaire with five statements concerning beliefs about medical imaging for LBP. All statements were not aligned with current evidence about the use of medical imaging in LBP management.

Results

Only 15–21% (n = 24–34) of the participants held beliefs that were aligned with current evidence. Participants with a university education had slightly more aligned beliefs compared to those whose highest education was completing secondary school. There was no difference in the beliefs of participants based on their history of impactful LBP, or other clinical or sociodemographic factors.

Conclusion

As beliefs are likely to drive care-seeking behavior, it is notable that most participants’ views about the role of medical imaging for LBP were not aligned with current evidence. Therefore, this suggests a need for community education, especially for those with lower education.

中文翻译：

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只有五分之一的澳大利亚年轻人认为腰痛的医学影像与当前证据一致：一项横断面研究

背景

患者的看法/期望可能是医学影像转诊率背后的一个因素。很少有研究调查可能推动医学成像预期的信念。

目标

这项研究检查了澳大利亚年轻人对腰痛的医学扫描的看法是否与当前的证据一致。它还调查了这些信念是否与临床因素（有影响的 LBP 的历史、以前的医学扫描史、LBP 相关的残疾和腿痛的存在）或社会人口学因素（性别、教育、收入）有关。

设计

横断面观察性研究。

方法

来自 Raine 研究的 78 名有影响性 LBP 病史的参与者和 85 名没有影响性 LBP 病史的参与者完成了一份特定于研究的问卷，其中包含五个关于 LBP 医学成像信念的陈述。所有陈述都与当前关于在 LBP 管理中使用医学成像的证据不一致。

结果

只有 15–21% (n = 24–34) 的参与者持有与当前证据一致的信念。与最高学历是中学毕业的人相比，受过大学教育的人的信念稍微一致。基于有影响的 LBP 历史或其他临床或社会人口学因素，参与者的信念没有差异。

结论

由于信念可能会推动就医行为，值得注意的是，大多数参与者关于医学影像对 LBP 的作用的看法与当前证据不一致。因此，这表明需要社区教育，尤其是对那些受教育程度较低的人。