Consultations for work related low back pain in Argentina

Low back pain (LBP) is a common cause of disability among people of working age. We investigated the incidence of consultation for work related LBP and of work absence, and determined the prevalence of continued work disability due to LBP in Argentina.

Our study population comprised 139,740 fulltime workers (mean age 34.4 yrs, range 17-79). An episode of work related LBP was defined as patient consulting because of acute LBP while at work or while traveling to/from work.

In a 6 month period 360 episodes of acute LBP were reported in 69,329 worker-years of exposure to risk; thus the episode incidence rate was 5.2/1000 worker-years. This was the third most frequent work related injury. Twenty-one patients (5.8% of episodes) were lost to followup. Those with LBP were significantly older than the population at risk (p < 0.001) and were predominantly men (p < 0.001). In 244 episodes (72%) pain onset was related to heavy physical work and in 46 (13.6%) it followed trauma to the back. Surgery was performed in 9 (2.7%) cases. In total, 322 (98%) patients were absent beyond the day of the injury (median number of days of work absence, 7 days; range 0-422 days). Surgical patients lost significantly more days of work (p < 0.01). Seven patients (2%) remained off work more than 180 days: 2 were declared disabled, 3 moved to lighter jobs, and only 2 (28.5%) returned to their previous job.

The incidence of consultation for work related LBP was 5.2/1000 worker-years. This was the third most frequent work related injury. Most patients had some work absenteeism. Surgery did not shorten recovery times. Only a minority of patients off work for 6 months or more were able to return to their previous job.