Official Statistics

Musculoskeletal health local profiles: short commentary, January 2024

Published 9 January 2024

Applies to England

What’s new

The following indicators have been updated with data from the 2023 GP Patient Survey for England, regions, and upper and lower tier local authorities for people aged 16 and over:

• percentage self-reporting a long term musculoskeletal (MSK) problem
• percentage self-reporting at least 2 long term conditions, at least one of which is MSK related
• odds of self-reported mental health conditions in people with an MSK condition compared with those without an MSK condition (odds ratio)

The updated indicators include data by index of multiple deprivation decile based on the respondents address for the first time. England level inequality breakdowns by age, sex, ethnic group, working status, sexuality and religion have also been updated in this release.

Introduction

Musculoskeletal conditions are the leading cause of pain and disability in England and account for one of the highest causes of sickness absence and productivity loss.

The Musculoskeletal health: local profiles provide meaningful data to enable the commissioning of high value musculoskeletal services.

MSK data is essential for understanding the health needs of local populations, the number of people accessing services, the cost of services and the outcomes services deliver.

The data published in this update show the percentage of people with a MSK health condition and the relationship between MSK and mental health.  The data are presented at national and local level as well as by population subgroup to enable monitoring of disparities.

Main findings

This update shows:

• the prevalence of people aged 16 and over self-reporting a long term MSK condition was 18.4% in 2023. This represents an increase from the prevalence in 2022 of 17.6% but was lower than 2019 when it was 18.8%
• in 2023, the prevalence of self-reported MSK conditions remained lower in males (15.8%) than in females (20.9%)
• the prevalence of self-reported MSK conditions remained higher than the England average amongst those from the white Gypsy or Irish Traveller ethnic group (33.4%), the black Caribbean ethnic group (21.7%), the white English, Welsh, Scottish, Northern Irish or British ethnic group (21.3%) and the white Irish ethnic group (21.1%)
• the prevalence self-reporting at least two long term conditions, at least one of which is MSK related was 13.4% in 2023.  This represents an increase from 2022 when prevalence was 12.8% and was similar to 2019 (13.4%)
• the prevalence of self-reported mental health conditions was higher in people with a long term MSK condition than in people without. The odds ratio of self-reporting a mental health condition among people with an MSK condition compared to those without an MSK condition was 1.4 in 2023, remaining unchanged since 2019. The odds ratio quantifies the difference in prevalence of mental health conditions between those with an MSK condition and those without an MSK condition. An odds ratio higher than 1 means the prevalence is higher amongst those with an MSK condition than in those with no MSK condition
• the odds ratio was highest for those of working age peaking at 3.0 for those aged 35 to 44, 2.9 for those aged 25 to 34 and 2.8 for those aged 45 to 54 compared with 1.1 for those aged 85 or over
• for all 3 updated indicators there are inequalities by level of area deprivation. Those in the most deprived decile were more likely to report a long term MSK problem and an MSK problem with at least one other long term condition. Deprived areas also had a greater difference in prevalence of mental health conditions between those with an MSK condition and those without (a higher odds ratio)

For enquiries or feedback relating to the Musculoskeletal health: local profiles, please contact [email protected].