Patients' role in the use of radiology testing for common office practice complaints.

Abstract
RESPIRATORY complaints and low back pain are among the most common symptoms for which outpatients seek care. In 1995, nearly 70 million visits (7.9% of all ambulatory visits) were made to providers for cough, throat symptoms, upper respiratory tract symptoms, or shortness of breath; and approximately 23 million visits (2.7% of all ambulatory visits) were made for back symptoms and low back pain.1 Although there are no good estimates of the proportion of these respiratory visits that included radiological testing, such testing is frequent for patients with low back pain.2,3