Effect of General Health Status on Chronicity of Low Back Pain in Industrial Workers.
Recognizing patients at a higher risk of developing chronic low back pain (LBP) is important in industrial medicine. This study aimed to assess the power and quality of General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) for prediction of the odds of chronicity of acute LBP. This study was conducted on industrial workers. All subjects with acute LBP who met the inclusion criteria were enrolled. Demographic characteristics, occupational, physical, and mental parameters and the general health status of subjects were evaluated;  they were followed up for developing chronic LBP for one year. Cigarette smoking, high body mass index, job stress, physical load and high GHQ scores were found to be the risk factors for the progression of acute LBP to chronic LBP (P<0.05). Standing position while working, age, work experience, exercise, level of education, weekly work hours and shift work were not the risk factors for chronic LBP (P>0.05). High GHQ score can be a risk factor for progression of acute LBP to chronic LBP. The GHQ in combination with the Job Content Questionnaire can be used as a quick and simple screening tool for detection of subjects at high risk of chronic LBP when evaluating acute LBP in an occupational setting.
Chronic Respiratory Diseases Research Center, National Research Institute of Tuberculosis and Lung Diseases (NRITLD), Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Seyed Mohammad
SM
Seyedmehdi
Department of Occupational Medicine, School of Medicine, AJA University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Faezeh
F
Dehghan
Brain and Spinal Cord Injury Research Center (BASIR), Neuroscience Institute, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. AND Department of Occupational Medicine, School of Medicine, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Mostafa
M
Ghaffari
Department of Forensic Medicine, School of Medicine, Guilan University of Medical Sciences, Rasht, Iran.
Mirsaeed
M
Attarchi
Department of Occupational Medicine, School of Medicine, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Bahareh
B
Khansari
Department of Orthopedic, School of Medicine, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan, Iran.
Bijan
B
Heidari
Telemedicine Research Center, National Research Institute of Tuberculosis and Lung Diseases (NRITLD), Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Taraneh
T
Yazdanparast
Brain and Spinal Cord Injury Research Center (BASIR), Neuroscience institute, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Abbas
A
Norouzi Javidan
Brain and Spinal Cord Injury Research Center (BASIR), Neuroscience Institute, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Seyed Hassan
SH
Emami Razavi
D000328:Adult; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D017116:Low Back Pain / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology*; D008297:Male; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000209:etiology*; D012307:Risk Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
General health questionnaire; Job content questionnaire; Low back pain