Risk factors associated with chronic low back pain in Syria
Mohammad Salem Alhalabi1, Hassan Alhaleeb2, Sarah Madani2
1Department of Neuroscience, Head of Integrated Neuroscience Center, King Abdullah Medical City, Makkah, Saudi Arabia.
Background:
We aimed to identify risk factors associated with chronic low back pain (C-LBP) in Syria.
Materials And Methods:
We conducted the study in a busy outpatient neurology clinic in Damascus city from October 2011 to August 2012. We enrolled all eligible adults presenting with C-LBP along with those who denied any back pain as a controls. We considered C-LBP any LBP lasting over 3 months. We developed our own questionnaire. A clinical nurse interviewed each person and filled in the results.
Results:
We had a total of 911 subjects; 513 patients and 398 controls. We found that C-LBP increased with age. Having a sibling with C-LBP was a strong predictor of C-LBP. In women obesity, but not overweight, was a risk factor. Number of children was a risk factor for mothers. Higher level of education decreased the chance of C-LBP in women. Sedentary job increased the risk of C-LBP.
Conclusion:
This study sheds some light on risk factors for C-LBP in our population and might help find possible preventive measures.
