The greatest risk for low-back pain among newly educated female health care workers; body weight or physical work load?
BACKGROUND
Low back pain (LBP) represents a major socioeconomic burden for the Western societies. Both life-style and work-related factors may cause low back pain. Prospective cohort studies assessing risk factors among individuals without prior history of low back pain are lacking. This aim of this study was to determine risk factors for developing low back pain (LBP) among health care workers.


METHODS
Prospective cohort study with 2,235 newly educated female health care workers without prior history of LBP. Risk factors and incidence of LBP were assessed at one and two years after graduation.


RESULTS
Multinomial logistic regression analyses adjusted for age, smoking, and psychosocial factors showed that workers with high physical work load had higher risk for developing LBP than workers with low physical work load (OR 1.8; 95% CI 1.1-2.8). In contrast, workers with high BMI were not at a higher risk for developing LBP than workers with a normal BMI.


CONCLUSIONS
Preventive initiatives for LBP among health care workers ought to focus on reducing high physical work loads rather than lowering excessive body weight.
National Research Centre for the Working Environment, Lersø Parkalle 105, DK 2100, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Jette Nygaard
JN
Jensen
Andreas
A
Holtermann
Thomas
T
Clausen
Ole Steen
OS
Mortensen
Isabella Gomes
IG
Carneiro
Lars Louis
LL
Andersen
D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D015992:Body Mass Index; D001835:Body Weight / Q000502:physiology*; D015897:Comorbidity; D003718:Denmark / Q000453:epidemiology; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D006282:Health Personnel; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D017116:Low Back Pain / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D009765:Obesity / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D016526:Workload / Q000706:statistics & numerical data