title: The role of physical workload and pain related fear in the development of low back pain in young workers: evidence from the BelCoBack Study; results after one year of follow up.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To study the influence of work related physical and psychosocial factors and individual characteristics on the occurrence of low back pain among young and pain free workers.
  
  
  METHODS
  The Belgian Cohort Back Study was designed as a prospective cohort study. The study population of this paper consisted of 716 young healthcare or distribution workers without low back pain lasting seven or more consecutive days during the year before inclusion. The median age was 26 years with an interquartile range between 24 and 29 years. At baseline, these workers filled in a questionnaire with physical exposures, work related psychosocial factors and individual characteristics. One year later, the occurrence of low back pain lasting seven or more consecutive days and some of its characteristics were registered by means of a questionnaire. To assess the respective role of predictors at baseline on the occurrence of low back pain in the following year, Cox regression with a constant risk period for all subjects was applied.
  
  
  RESULTS
  After one year of follow up, 12.6% (95% CI 10.1 to 15.0) of the 716 workers had developed low back pain lasting seven or more consecutive days. An increased risk was observed for working with the trunk in a bent and twisted position for more than two hours a day (RR 2.2, 95% CI 1.2 to 4.1), inability to change posture regularly (RR 2.1, 95% CI 1.3 to 3.5), back complaints in the year before inclusion (RR 1.7, 95% CI 1.1 to 2.8), and high scores of pain related fear (RR 1.8, 95% CI 1.0 to 3.1). Work related psychosocial factors and physical factors during leisure time were not predictive.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study highlighted the importance of physical work factors and revealed the importance of high scores of pain related fear in the development of low back pain among young workers.
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, Section of Occupational, Environmental and Insurance Medicine, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Leuven, Belgium. an.vannieuwenhuyse@med.kuleuven.be
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Van Nieuwenhuyse
authors.forename: P R
authors.initials: PR
authors.lastname: Somville
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Crombez
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Burdorf
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Verbeke
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Johannik
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Van den Bergh
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Masschelein
authors.forename: Ph
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Mairiaux
authors.forename: G F
authors.initials: GF
authors.lastname: Moens
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001294:Attitude to Health; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D005239:Fear; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D017770:Lifting / Q000009:adverse effects; D017116:Low Back Pain / Q000209:etiology* / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000523:psychology; D008297:Male; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000209:etiology* / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000523:psychology; D011187:Posture; D011446:Prospective Studies; D016526:Workload