Low back pain in China: Disease burden and bibliometric analysis

Background: Low back pain has become a global problem. Since many traditional Chinese therapies are helpful for low back pain, the current status of low back pain in China may provide some insights to this issue.

Aim: To demonstrate the disease burden of low back pain in China and the response of Chinese scholars to this issue.

Methods: The burden of low back pain in China was estimated using the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021 released by the American Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation. The incidence, prevalence and disability-adjusted life years were analyzed. We also performed a bibliometric analysis to analyzed the publication trend, changes of cooperation models and research topics on low back pain.

Results: Prevalence of low back pain increased from 69.61 million in 1990 to 102.96 million in 2021. New cases increased by a stunning 44.50 million in 2021. Low back pain led to an increase of 4.16 per 1000000 population in terms of disability-adjusted life years from 1990 to 2021. But the increase in China was slower than that of world average. As a response, publications of low back pain published by Chinese scholars were stably raised. From 1990 to 2023, domestic cooperation significantly increased, while international cooperation and no cooperation decreased. However, domestic cooperation decreased between 2021 and 2023. The number of studies on prevention and treatment of low back pain reduced from 1990 to 2023, while the mechanism, etiology and other aspects of low back pain augmented.

Conclusion: The burden of low back pain in China is heavy. Together with the government, Chinese institutions of medical science should do more in declining the impacts of low back pain.