EVIDENCE BASED TREATMENT RECOMMENDATIONS FOR BACK AND NECK PAIN ACROSS EUROPE: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW OF GUIDELINES

Background and aims: The EU-funded Back-UP project aims to develop a cloud computer platform to guide the treatment of low back and neck pain (LBNP) in first contact care and early rehabilitation. In order to identify evidence-based treatment options that can be recommended and are accessible to people with LBNP across Europe, we conducted a systematic review of recently published guidelines. Methods: Electronic databases, including the Guidelines International Network (G-I-N); NICE, SIGN, WHO, Medline; Embase; CINAHL; PsychINFO; PEDRo; Epistemonikos; TRIP; and DynaMed Plus were searched. We searched for guidelines published by European health professional or guideline development organisations since 2013, focusing on the primary care management of adult patients presenting with back or neck pain (including whiplash associated symptoms, radicular pain, and pregnancy-related LBP). The AGREE-II tool was used to assess the quality of guideline development and reporting. Results: The searches generated 3098 citations that were screened for eligibility. A total of 189 full texts were retrieved, and 31 guidelines were included in the review (from the UK, Germany, France, Italy, Denmark, Poland, Belgium, and the Netherlands). Data extraction showed considerable variation in guideline development processes, especially regarding the methods used for identifying, appraising, and synthesising evidence, and for formulating, agreeing, and grading recommendations. Conclusions: Recommendations for the management of LBNP cover a wide range of treatment options, with self-management advice, analgesics, and exercise proposed as core treatments by most guidelines. A narrative synthesis, taking into account consistency, strength, and quality of guideline recommendations, will be presented during the conference. This abstract presents independent research within the Back-UP project, funded by European Union´s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 777090. It reflects only the views of the authors, and the European Commission is not liable for any use that may be made of its contents.

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