Related Experiment Video
Updated: Feb 9, 2026
Author Spotlight: Quantifying Pain Experience – An Illustrative Approach Using the Pain Body Diagram
Published on: July 7, 2023
Elevated glycohemoglobin HbA1c is associated with low back pain in nonoverweight diabetics
Alexander Real1, Chierika Ukogu1, Divya Krishnamoorthy1
1Leni and Peter W. May Department of Orthopaedics, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, 1 Gustave Levy Place, Box 1188, New York, NY 10029-6574, USA.
Background Context:
Low back pain (LBP) is a common complaint in clinical practice of multifactorial origin. Although obesity has been thought to contribute to LBP primarily by altering the distribution of mechanical loads on the spine, the additional contribution of obesity-related conditions such as diabetes mellitus (DM) to LBP has not been thoroughly examined.
Purpose:
To determine if there is a relationship between DM and LBP that is independent of body mass index (BMI) in a large cohort of adult survey participants.
Study Design:
Retrospective analysis of prospectively collected National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) data to characterize associations between LBP, DM, and BMI in adults subdivided into 6 subpopulations: normal weight (BMI 18.5-25), overweight (BMI 25-30), and obese (BMI >30) diabetics and nondiabetics. Diabetes was defined with glycohemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) ≥6.5%.
Patient Sample:
11,756 participants from NHANES cohort.
Outcome Measures:
Percentage of LBP reported.
Methods:
LBP reported in the 1999-2004 miscellaneous pain NHANES questionnaire was the dependent variable examined. Covariates included HbA1c, BMI, age, and family income ratio to poverty as continuous variables as well as race, gender, and smoking as binary variables. Individuals were further subdivided by weight class and diabetes status. Regression and graphical analyses were performed on the study population as a whole and also on subpopulations.
Results:
Increasing HbA1c did not increase the odds of reporting LBP in the full cohort. However, multivariate logistic regression of the 6 subpopulations revealed that the odds of LBP significantly increased with increasing HbA1c levels in normal weight diabetics. No other subpopulations reported significant relationships between LBP and HbA1c. LBP was also significantly associated with BMI for normal weight diabetics and also for obese subjects regardless of their DM status.
Conclusions:
LBP is significantly related to DM status, but this relationship is complex and may interact with BMI. These results support the concept that LBP may be improved in normal weight diabetic subjects with improved glycemic control and weight loss, and that all obese LBP subjects may benefit from improved weight loss alone.
Related Concept Videos
03:12Freezing Point Depression and Boiling Point Elevation
The boiling point of a liquid is the temperature at which its vapor pressure is equal to ambient atmospheric pressure. Since the vapor pressure of a solution is lowered due to the presence of nonvolatile solutes, it stands to reason that the solution’s boiling point will subsequently be increased. Vapor pressure increases with temperature, and so a solution will require a higher temperature than will pure solvent to achieve any given vapor pressure, including one...
01:20Elevation of Intermediate Points on Vertical Curves
01:20Pathophysiology of Diabetes
Type 1 diabetes is characterized by autoimmune-mediated destruction of pancreatic β cells, with environmental factors potentially triggering this process in genetically susceptible individuals. Despite many not having a family history, certain genes increase susceptibility,...
01:20Pain
01:15Diabetes: Management and Pharmacotherapy
Insulin remains the cornerstone of treatment for most patients with type 1 and many...
01:19Psychoneuroimmunology: Diabetes and Cancer