Low back pain in a sample of Syrian pregnant women: A cross-sectional study

Low back pain related to pregnancy occurs in 60%-70% of pregnancies, at any time during pregnancy. During pregnancy, many factors such as weight gain, and others are the causes of the back pain. In Syria, due to the circumstances of the war, many pregnant women may be exposed to increase the risk of lower back pain, so this study will determine the prevalence of lower back pain among pregnant women and its potential risk factors. We aimed to evaluate the prevalence of low back pain in pregnant women and to assess the risk factors related to it.

A cross-sectional, observational study was conducted between May 2020 and December 2022 at Obstetrics and Gynecology University Hospital in Damascus, Syria. Pregnant women aged over 18 years were selected from the outpatient clinic. Participants, after signing the informed consent, fill out the survey, which included the following parameters: age, weight, height, body mass index (BMI), education, parity, shoe type, weekly walking hours, occupation, low back pain, in which semester, radiation, onset, alleviating and aggravating factors, disability, and pain in previous pregnancies. We used Excel 2010, and the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 23.0. p < 0.05 was considered statistically significant, and we used the Chi-square test (χ ² test), t student test to test the basal differences between groups.

A number of 551 pregnant participants were included and low back pain prevalence was 62%. There was a statistically significant relation between low back pain and each of the following: Obesity, weekly walking hours, pain in previous pregnancies, and occupation.

Low back pain is prevalent during pregnancy and the most important risk factors include obesity and pain in previous pregnancies whereas walking and employment are protective measures to prevent low back pain.