title: Back pain in Poland and Germany: a survey of prevalence and association with demographic characters.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Back pain is the most common form of pain and leads to high costs in all medical care systems.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The present study examines the prevalence of back pain and its associations with some basic demographics.
  
  
  METHODS
  Two samples from Poland and Germany (about n = 500 each) were examined via Internet regarding back pain, gender, age, and body mass index (BMI).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Back pain is more common in women than in men (risk ratio about 1.7), and a high BMI constitutes an additional risk factor. Age was not related to back pain prevalence.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Congruent results in two countries based on the same measure of back pain lead to the assumption that much of the variety found in estimates of back pain are due to inconsistent assessment. For future research, a definition of common criteria on how to assess back pain would be an asset.
authors.affiliation: Medical Psychology and Medical Sociology, Clinic for Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, School of Medicine, Johannes Gutenberg University, Duesbergweg 6, 55128 Mainz, Germany.
authors.forename: Lea
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Henn
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Psychology, University of Warsaw, Ulica Stawki 5/7, 00-183 Warsaw, Poland.
authors.forename: Katarzyna
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Schier
authors.affiliation: Medical Psychology and Medical Sociology, Clinic for Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, School of Medicine, Johannes Gutenberg University, Duesbergweg 6, 55128 Mainz, Germany.
authors.forename: Tamara
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Brian
authors.affiliation: Medical Psychology and Medical Sociology, Clinic for Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, School of Medicine, Johannes Gutenberg University, Duesbergweg 6, 55128 Mainz, Germany.
authors.forename: Jochen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hardt
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001416:Back Pain / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000473:pathology; D015992:Body Mass Index; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011044:Poland / Q000453:epidemiology; D012307:Risk Factors; D012727:Sex Characteristics
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