Appropriateness of referrals from primary care for lumbar MRI

Table 2 Characteristics of referred patients by categorisation status (both appropriate and inappropriate referral variants)

	n	Mean age (SD)	Age range	Women (%)	Men (%)
Variant 1	1548	53.4 (15.7)	18–94	54.72	45.28
Variant 2	31	67.7 (11.2)	43–85	70.97	29.03
Variant 3	119	55.9 (17.2)	19–90	52.10	47.90
Variant 4	113	49.4 (16.3)	21–85	51.33	48.67
Variant 5	216	59.0 (14.1)	19–87	56.02	43.98
Variant 6	24	53.3 (16.4)	19–81	66.67	33.33

Inappropriate: (Variant 1) Inappropriate referral; Appropriate: (Variant 2) Suspicion of fracture; (Variant 3) Suspicion of cancer, infection, immunosuppression or spondyloarthritis; (Variant 4) Candidate for surgery or intervention with persistent or progressive symptoms during or following 6 weeks of conservative management; (Variant 5) New or progressing symptoms or clinical findings with a history of prior lumbar surgery; (Variant 6) Suspected cauda equina syndrome or rapidly progressive neurological deficit.

ISSN: 2045-709X