Use of Radiography for New Patients Presenting to a Chiropractic Teaching Clinic: A Cross-sectional Analysis

Objective: The aim of this study was to identify the number and type of indications for radiographs ordered in a chiropractic teaching clinic in Malaysia.

Methods: A cross-sectional retrospective analysis was conducted using the medical health records of new patients who presented to the International Medical University Bukit Jalil teaching clinic for chiropractic care between August 2018 and July 2019. Data about sociodemographic characteristics, region of presenting complaint, radiography ordering rates, and referral indications were collected. We compared indications reported in the patient records with those listed in the International Medical University Chiropractic Clinical Manual. We conducted χ2 and logistic regression analysis to identify the association between radiography indications and the number of radiographs ordered.

Results: Data were collected for 1451 patients (741 [51.1%] women and 700 [48.9%] men). The most common body region for the presenting complaint was the lumbar/pelvic region (39.0%), and the overall radiograph use rate was 2.7%, with the highest number of radiographs for the lumbar spine.

Conclusion: For the patient files sampled in this study, the overall radiograph order rate in the International Medical University Bukit Jalil Chiropractic teaching clinic was 2.7%.