Patient characteristics upon initial presentation to chiropractic teaching clinics: A descriptive study conducted at one university

Abstract

Objective: The purpose of this study was to compare demographics and chief complaints of the new patient population at our institution's fee-for-service clinics to the patient population of practicing chiropractors in the United States. We also compared the prevalence of obesity and hypertension to reference standards for the adult population. Methods: Patient data were obtained from the electronic health records. All records identified as new patients during October 2013 were included. Variables of interest were clinic site, patient demographics, blood pressure, body mass index (BMI), chief complaint, and ICD-9 codes. Descriptive statistics were computed and compared to reference standards from previous reports. Results: During October 2013, there were 224 new patients that entered the clinics. The average patient was a 31-to 50-year-old white male. Our clinic patients differed from those seen by US chiropractors in the distribution of all demographic variables. For adult patients, 31.4% were overweight, 29% were obese, and 8% stage 1 or 2 hypertension. Conclusion: New patients in the fee-for-service teaching clinics appear to be dissimilar to those of US practicing chiropractors in several important demographics, characteristics, and types of complaints. The new patients had lower levels of overweight, obesity, and hypertension compared to US reference standards.

Analysis of the chief complaints of older patients seeking chiropractic care at a teaching clinic and potential implications for clinical education

“…7,[15][16][17][18] However, it must be noted that these other studies included patients of all ages. [15][16][17][18][19] The only other New Zealand study, also performed at the NZCC by Holt and Beck in 2005, found that the majority of patients' chief complaints included low back pain (38.1%); however, in this study data were collected on all age groups. 19 Studies from teaching institutes in Mexico, Missouri, and New York have also found similar results when studying all age groups, with the most common chief complaint being low back pain.…”

Community-based free clinics: opportunities for interprofessional collaboration, health promotion, and complex care management

“…A previous study at this institution identified gaps in students' exposure at our fee-for-service clinics to the full spectrum of patient characteristics and complaints. 15 The current study explored opportunities presented by 1 of our community-based free clinics to fill these gaps. …”

Retrospective Demographic Analysis of Patients Seeking Care at a Free University Chiropractic Clinic

“…The equal distribution of women and men was similar to frequencies reported by other chiropractic teaching clinics. 23,24,27 The higher percentage of 21 -to 30-year-old patients as compared with 18-to 20-year-old patients may be due to the fact that the free student health center was located on the graduate campus (medical, nursing, dental, and other graduate programs), creating more convenient access for professional and graduate students as compared with undergraduate students. However, our sample met the purpose of the study to describe demographics and clinical characteristics of young adults seeking chiropractic care.…”

“…The primary complaint of low back pain is consistent with previous studies on clinical characteristics of patients seeking care at either private practice offices [2][3][4][5] or chiropractic teaching clinics. 22,23,[25][26][27] Collectively, 87% of the primary complaints involved the lumbar, cervical, or thoracic spine. As such, it may be concluded that young adults presenting to the free chiropractic clinic within a university health center were seeking musculoskeletal spine care.…”

“…25,26 Most recently, 30% of patients treated at a chiropractic teaching clinic were young adults 18 to 30 years of age, and low back pain (31.3%) was the most frequent chief complaint of all patients treated. 27 The information gleaned from these studies on young adults is limited because the data were not consistently or specifically described for young adults. Preliminary survey data indicated that acute or subacute low back pain was the primary complaint of young adults 18 to 29 years of age seeking care at a free chiropractic clinic within a university health center.…”