What is it about?
This study examined the incidence and severity of adverse events (AEs) of patients receiving chiropractic spinal manipulative therapy (SMT)
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Why is it important?
We identified patients with SMT-related AEs from January 2017 through August 2022 across 30 chiropractic clinics in Hong Kong. AE data were extracted from a complaint log, including solicited patient surveys, complaints, and clinician reports, and corroborated by medical records. AEs were independently graded 1–5 based on severity (1-mild, 2-moderate, 3-severe, 4-life-threatening, 5-death). Among 960,140 SMT sessions for 54,846 patients, 39 AEs were identified, two were grade 3, both of which were rib fractures occurring in women age > 60 with osteoporosis, while none were grade ≥ 4, yielding an incidence of grade ≥ 3 AEs of 0.21 per 100,000 SMT sessions (95% CI 0.00, 0.56 per 100,000).
Perspectives
There were no AEs related to stroke or cauda equina syndrome. The sample size was insufficient to identify predictors of grade ≥ 3 AEs using multiple logistic regression. In this study, severe SMT-related AEs were reassuringly very rare.
Dr Eric Chun-Pu Chu
New York Medical Group
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: A retrospective analysis of the incidence of severe adverse events among recipients of chiropractic spinal manipulative therapy, Scientific Reports, January 2023, Springer Science + Business Media,
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-28520-4.
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