title: Reporting on work-related low back pain: data sources, discrepancies and the art of discovering truths.
abstract: Work-related pain is unique in the pain context as it is, in theory, tied to one or more workplace activities and is therefore preventable. Back pain is a leading cause of lost workplace productivity, absence from work and reduced quality of life. Aggregate estimates of the work-related contribution to the overall burden of back pain vary, which may reflect incomplete reporting, inconsistency in data collection and coding between studies and jurisdictions, or, alternatively, genuine differences between occupational groups and countries. It is therefore important for researchers, policy analysts and program development personnel in the fields of pain medicine and occupational medicine to have a thorough understanding of the appropriate use and inherent limitations of the data sources which report on this topic.
authors.affiliation: Division of Preventive Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
authors.forename: Xiangning
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Fan
authors.affiliation: Division of Preventive Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
authors.forename: Sebastian
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Straube
mesh_terms: D017281:Cost of Illness; D016208:Databases, Factual; D062665:Epidemiological Monitoring; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D017116:Low Back Pain / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control; D008297:Male; D014937:Work / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014942:Workers' Compensation; D017132:Workplace
keywords: data sources; population surveillance; surveillance systems; work-related back pain