Is back pain increasing? Results from national surveys in Finland during 1978/9-1992.
The development in the prevalence of back pain, back diseases diagnosed by a physician, and joint pain were studied in Finland during the period 1978/9-1992. The data consisted of annual surveys of representative national samples (n = 5000) of 15-64 year old Finns. The effects of sex, age-group, and study year on the proportions of those with a disorder were studied by logistic regression analyses. All prevalences increased with age. Symptoms were more common among women. The prevalence rates of the symptoms remained stationary through the time period. There were further no systematic changes in the prevalence of diagnosed back diseases. The lower prevalence levels from the year 1985 onwards were probably because of a change in the questionnaire layout, and the two periods were modelled separately. Possible reasons for the discrepancy between the present results and those from previous surveys in Finland are discussed.
LEL Employment Pension Fund, Health Research Department, Helsinki, Finland.
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Leino
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Berg
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Puska
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D001416:Back Pain / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D005387:Finland / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D007592:Joint Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D017678:Sex Distribution; D013122:Spinal Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology