A 35-Year Trend Analysis for Back Pain in Austria: The Role of Obesity

Abstract

BackgroundThe prevalence of back pain is constantly increasing and a public health problem of high priority. In Austria there is a lack of empirical evidence for the development of back pain and its related factors. The present study aims to investigate trends in the prevalence of back pain across different subpopulations (sex, age, obesity).MethodsA secondary data analysis based on five nationally representative cross-sectional health surveys (1973–2007) was carried out. Face-to-face interviews were conducted in private homes in Austria. Subjects aged 20 years and older were included in the study sample (n = 178,818). Obesity was defined as BMI≥30 kg/m2 and adjusted for self-report bias. Back pain was measured as the self-reported presence of the disorder.ResultsThe age-standardized prevalence of back pain was 32.9% in 2007; it was higher among women than men (p<0.001), higher in older than younger subjects (p<0.001) and higher in obese than non-obese individuals (p<0.001). During the investigation period the absolute change in the prevalence of back pain was +19.4%. Among all subpopulations the prevalence steadily increased. Obese men showed the highest increase of and the greatest risk for back pain.ConclusionThese results help to understand the development of back pain in Austria and can be used to plan controlled promotion programs. Further monitoring is recommended in order to control risk groups and plan target group-specific prevention strategies. In Austria particular emphasis should be on obese individuals. We recommend conducting prospective studies to confirm our results and investigate causal relationships.

Obesity and Chronic Pain

“…47 Obese men showed the uppermost increase in and greatest risk for back pain. Interestingly, 2 other large European studies, involving 105,841 participants in Norway and the Netherlands, found that the association of higher BMI with back pain was stronger in women.…”

Preventive aspectsregarding back pain

“…Additionally, in the Austrian Health Interview Survey, 36.1 % of men and 39.2 % of women reported that they had ever been affected by chronic spine complaints [5]. An increase of the prevalence of back pain between 1973 and 2007 from 13.9 to 32.9 % of the adult Austrian population (age standardised) has been reported [6]. However, here limitations due to different survey techniques and different applied questions (e.g.…”

Acupuncture – Basic Research and Clinical Application

“…Those characteristics/behaviours which were most often considered to impact on treatment outcome (Table 3) included what acupuncture author Bob Flaws once called "the three frees"-relaxation, diet and exercise-but also self-motivation, willingness to follow advice given, general state of health and openness to new experiences. In the HRV literature on acupuncture, parasympathetic activation or an improvement in sympathovagal balance is often found to result from acupuncture treatment [56][57][58], so a pre-existing ability to relax could facilitate this. The remaining items are all quite straightforward and easy to interpret in the context of acupuncture, where for instance patients less open to new experiences are presumably less likely to procure treatment in the first place.…”

“…Items shown in bold red type appear in the same deciles both NOW and THEN; those underlined appear in Most "Yes" responses and Least "No" responses (NOW or THEN), or vice versa. (60) Age (59) Sceptical (57) Willing to follow advice (9) Central sensitisn (13) Able to relax (14) Alexithymia (15) Psychotic (15) Self-motivated (15) Ethnicity (73) Gender (68) Education (56) Relnship status (53) Gender issues (50) Age (47) Willing to follow advice (7) Commitment (14) General health (14) Openness (16) Self-motivated (16) Exercise 17DK Alexithymia (78) Gender issues (52) Central sensitsn (51) TCM pattern (47) Child poverty (45) Character when young (44) Willing to follow advice (5) Able to relax (6) Age (6) Negativity 7Gender (7) Self-motivated (8) a gender, character when young, childhood poverty and extraverted/introverted. Two of these also appear under "Fewest responses (THEN)".…”

“…Other causes associated with an increased risk of LBP, include infections, autoimmune diseases, orthopedic diseases or tumours [27][28][29][30][31][32][33]. LBP results also from occupational ergonomic factors related to heavy physical work, repetitive actions due to occupational requirements [1,2,[34][35][36][37][38][39]; as well as sports activities or sports-related injuries [40,41]; sedentary lifestyle, prolonged sitting or inactivity and lack of exercises [42][43][44]; post operation or surgery-induced [45,46]; secondary from other medical conditions [47][48][49]; lifestyle factors [50]; poor trunk control and postural impairment [51]; psychosocial and behavior-related factors from smoking, alcohol abuse, obesity, depression and stress [1,6,14,[52][53][54][55][56][57]; socio-economic factors [58]; and ageing [59,60]. However, it is often difficult to identify the origin of LBP [1,5,6,[61][62][63][64][65] and 85-95% of the total cases of back...…”