Advancing Patient Safety for Special Populations: Active Surveillance Reporting to Identify Adverse Events Following Chiropractic Care in Older Adults

Rationale: Musculoskeletal conditions are more common and more severe in older adults than in younger adults and have a negative effect on their overall health-related quality-of-life by decreasing mobility, reducing social participation and causing substantial difficulties with activities of daily living. Canada's population is rapidly aging and the socioeconomic burden associated with these conditions will continue to escalate. Indeed, older patients (≥65 years) account for 18.8% of a chiropractor's case load. Given the high proportion of older adults as chiropractic patients, research on the safety of chiropractic care for this population is critical. Previous studies have reported adverse events (AEs) following specific chiropractic techniques or as secondary outcome measures in older adults; however, there has been no attempt to prospectively capture changes in symptoms (and specifically AEs).

Purpose: To: 1) calculate the frequency of AEs reported by older adults following chiropractic care with an active surveillance reporting system; and 2) explore patient and provider factors related to changes in symptom (e.g., new, worsening, improving) following chiropractic care.

More specifically, this study will use active surveillance reporting system to track the change in symptoms experienced by older adult patients after a chiropractic visit, in comparison to before. These symptoms can be pain, stiffness, fatigue, weakness, dizziness, nausea, etc. As active surveillances track the change in all symptoms experienced by all patients in a participating clinic, no specific condition/disease is being studied, but how the symptoms experienced by older adults seeking chiropractic care for a musculoskeletal condition (such as low back, neck, hip, should pain) change.