A case-series of patients with musculoskeletal conditions in an underserved community in Moca, Dominican Republic
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(2020) 28:3
RESEARCH
Open Access
A case-series of patients with musculoskeletal conditions in an underserved community in Moca, Dominican Republic Sophia da Silva-Oolup1* , Margareta Nordin2, Paula Stern1, Geoff Outerbridge3 and Pierre Côté4,5,6
Abstract Purpose: To describe characteristics and activity limitations of new patients with musculoskeletal conditions presenting to the World Spine Care (WSC) clinic located in the underserved community of Moca, Dominican Republic. Methods: We conducted a prospective case series of consecutive adults between October 12 and December 5, 2015. A survey of valid and reliable measures including: Body pain diagram, Wong-Baker FACES® pain rating scale, Spine Functional Index (SFI), Lower Limb Functional Index (LLFI), Upper Limb Functional Index (ULFI) and the 12item Short Form Health Survey (SF-12v2) was administered to collect socio-demographics, expectation of recovery, comorbidities, and self-reported health status data. Results: Forty-two patients (23 females and 19 males) were included. The most common primary complaint was lower back pain (40.5%; 17/42) and 57% (24/42) of individuals reported pain that interfered with their ability to function and engage in daily activities. Half of the patients presented with two complaints. Complaints were similar between genders. Most patients (64%; 27/42) reported chronic pain (> 6 months) and 97% (41/42) reported believing that they would recover. Twenty-one percent (9/42) self-reported being diagnosed with depression and/ or anxiety at some point in their life. In addition, most (57%; 24/42) individuals reported below average physical and mental health related quality of life. Conclusions: This study is the first to describe characteristics of patients seeking care at the WSC clinic in Moca, Dominican Republic. Most patients attending the clinic suffer from persistent spine complaints that interfere with their ability to function and engage in daily activities. Nevertheless, the patients have positive expectations of recovery. Keywords: Musculoskeletal diseases, Spine, Dominican Republic, Developing countries, Chronic pain
Introduction Musculoskeletal conditions such as low back and neck pain are leading causes of disability in developing nations [1–3]. In the Dominican Republic low back pain and other musculoskeletal conditions rank amongst the top 10 causes of years lived with disability [4]. The disability associated with these conditions affects * Correspondence: [email protected] 1 Division of Graduate Education and Research Programs, Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College, 6100 Leslie St, Toronto, Ontario M2H 3J1, Canada Full list of author information is available at the end of the article
individuals’ abilities to work, maintain financial independence and care for and support their families [5]. The burden of disease associated with these disabilities is defined as the impact of a health condition as measured by financial cost, morbidity and mortality [6]. The burden of musculoskeletal disorders are important contrib
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