Age-adjusted Baseline Neck Disability Index Values: An Analysis of Neck Pain Disability in the General American Population

• Published in: Spine (Philadelphia, Pa. 1976) Pa. 1976), 2025-01, Vol.50 (2), p.137-144
• Main Authors: Lipson, Patricia, Bansal, Aiyush, Leveque, Jean-Christophe, Kumar, Rakesh, Fujii, Takeshi, Nemani, Venu M, Louie, Philip K
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Age Factors; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Disability Evaluation; Disabled Persons - statistics & numerical data; Female; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Neck Pain - diagnosis; Neck Pain - epidemiology; Neck Pain - physiopathology; Pain Measurement - methods; Prospective Studies; Surveys and Questionnaires; United States; Young Adult
• ISSN: 0362-2436; 1528-1159; 1528-1159
• DOI: 10.1097/BRS.0000000000005163

Survey-based, prospective study. Identify age-adjusted baseline neck disability index (NDI) values in the American population. The NDI is the most widely used tool for assessing self-rated disability in patients with neck pain. Establishing baseline NDI values can aid in understanding the clinical impact of cervical spine pathologies and treatment interventions. An internet-based survey was distributed using the Connect ( TM ) platform powered by CloudResearch. Based on the latest U.S. census, this survey was designed to engage a demographically representative sample of the U.S. adult population. We captured 699 individuals, aiming for 100 people per each 10-year age group between 18 and 89. Participants scored their disability using the NDI survey. Mean NDI scores stratified by age group and sex were calculated for each cohort. A total of 699 participants were included with 352 (50.4%) males and 347 (49.6%) females and an age distribution closely aligning with national demographics. The overall mean NDI for the combined age groups was 16.5 with a 95% CI of 15.5 to 17.5. The 18 to 29 age group had the lowest mean NDI of 12.3 (95% CI: 10.4, 14.2). Mean NDI scores increased until the 60 to 69 age group with a mean of 20.1 (95% CI: 17.3, 23.0) with women having a mean NDI of 22.2 (95% CI: 18.8, 25.7) compared with men with 15.4 (95% CI: 10.3, 20.4). Mean NDI scores decreased in the 70 to 79 and 80 to 89 age groups. This is the first study to assess age-adjusted baseline values of NDI in the U.S. population. Our findings demonstrate a disproportionate distribution of disability ratings across age groups. These data are important for health care professionals as it provides age and sex-specific levels of disability. Level III.