Back pain reporting in children and adolescents: the impact of parents' educational level
Charlotte Leboeuf-Yde1, Niels Wedderkopp, Lars Bo Andersen
1Medical Research Unit in Ringkjøbing County, Postbox 142, DK-6950 Ringkøbing, Denmark.
Background:
Social class, including educational level, is a strong predictor for health-related perceptions and behavior and for health outcomes in general. It is not known whether parental education has an effect on back pain in their offspring.
Objectives:
To establish whether parents' educational level is associated with back pain reporting and consequences of back pain in their children.
Design:
A cross-sectional survey.
Data Collection:
Information on parental education was obtained through questionnaires to parents and back pain information through standardized interviews with the children.
Participants:
Children aged 8 to 10 years (n = 481) and adolescents aged 14 to 16 years (n = 325) obtained through a proportional 2-stage cluster sample.
Setting:
Local schools in Odense, Denmark.
Main Outcome Measures:
The strength of association and dose-response connection were studied between parental educational level (high/medium/low) and the outcome variables (back pain in the preceding month, and consequences of back pain) in their children.
Results:
There was a significant modest negative association between the level of parental education and back pain in children but not in adolescents. There was no significant association between parental educational level and back pain consequences.
Conclusions:
Further research in this area requires a more ingenious approach such as use of more socially heterogeneous study populations than those usually found in Denmark.
