Low back pain is the leading cause of years lived with disability in most countries and creates a huge burden for healthcare systems globally. Around the globe, 4.4% of all emergency department attendances are attributed to low back pain, and subsequent admissions to hospital seem to be common. These hospitalisations can result in unnecessary medical care, functional decline and high costs. There are no systematic reviews summarising the global prevalence of hospital admission for low back pain, identifying the sources of admissions or estimating hospital length of stay. This information would be valuable for health and medical researchers, front-line clinicians, and health planners aiming to improve and increase the value of their health services. The objectives of this study are to estimate the prevalence of hospital admission for low back pain from different healthcare facilities across the globe, including the emergency department, as well as investigate hospital length of stay and explore sources of heterogeneity when categorising studies according to low back pain definitions, sources of admission, study period, study setting and country’s region and income level.

ObjectivesTo determine the proportion of low back pain presentations that are admitted to hospital from the emergency department (ED), the proportion of hospital admissions due to a primary diagnosis of low back pain and the mean hospital length of stay (LOS), globally.MethodsWe searched MEDLINE, CINAHL, EMBASE, Web of Science, PsycINFO and LILACS from inception to July 2022. Secondary data were retrieved from publicly available government agency publications and international databases. Studies investigating admitted patients aged >18 years with a primary diagnosis of musculoskeletal low back pain and/or lumbosacral radicular pain were included.ResultsThere was high heterogeneity in admission rates for low back pain from the ED, with a median of 9.6% (IQR 3.3–25.2; 9 countries). The median percentage of all hospital admissions that were due to low back pain was 0.9% (IQR 0.6–1.5; 30 countries). The median hospital LOS across 39 countries was 6.2 days for ‘dorsalgia’ (IQR 4.4–8.6) and 5.4 days for ‘intervertebral disc disorders’ (IQR 4.1–8.4). Low back pain admissions per 100 000 population had a median of 159.1 (IQR 82.6–313.8). The overall quality of the evidence was moderate.ConclusionThis is the first systematic review with meta-analysis summarising the global prevalence of hospital admissions and hospital LOS for low back pain. There was relatively sparse data from rural and regional regions and low-income countries, as well as high heterogeneity in the results.