title: Nonspecific low back pain in 5000 Iranian school-age children.
abstract: Low back pain (LBP) is common in adult population, and it is becoming a serious health concern in adolescents. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of nonspecific LBP and associated risk factors in school-age children. After ethical approval, a cross-sectional study was conducted on 5000 randomly recruited secondary schoolchildren aged 11-14 years in the north of Iran. A structured questionnaire including questions concerning demographic, mechanical, and lifestyle data as well as the prevalence and characteristics of LBP was used. Of the original sample, 4813 (96.2%) children returned the questionnaire. Point, last month, last 6 months, and annual prevalence were 15%, 14.4%, 15.6%, and 17.4%, respectively. No association was found between school bag weight and prevalence of LBP (P=0.824). Low back pain was significantly correlated with age (P=0.000), position and time spent watching television (P=0.028 and P=0.002, respectively), position and duration of homework (P=0.021 and P=0.012, respectively). There was no association between LBP and body mass index (P=0.596) or between LBP and sex (P=0.412). The results indicated that the prevalence of LBP in schoolchildren is relatively high. Further studies focusing on the effect of different preventive strategies to reduce the impact of such a problem in schoolchildren is strongly recommended.
authors.affiliation: Rehabilitation Department, School of Medicine, School of Medicine, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Sari, Mazandaran, Iran. mohseni_bandpei@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Mohammad A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Mohseni-Bandpei
authors.forename: Masumeh
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bagheri-Nesami
authors.forename: Masoud
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shayesteh-Azar
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007492:Iran; D017116:Low Back Pain / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors