A Prospective Cohort Study of Risk Factors for Disability Retirement Because of Back Pain in the General Working Population
- 1 August 2002
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health) in Spine
- Vol. 27 (16), 1790-1796
- https://doi.org/10.1097/00007632-200208150-00019
Abstract
A 7-year prospective cohort study of 34,754 employed men and women was conducted. To determine the relative contribution of occupational risk factors, lifestyle factors, comorbidity, and psychological and social factors to the incidence of disability retirement because of back pain in the general working population. Permanent occupational disability is a serious consequence of a disabling process. Although this condition is a great burden to the individual and extremely costly for society, few population-based studies exist on risk factors for obtaining disability pension because of back pain. Patients granted back pain disability pension were ascertained from the national disability register. The exposure variables were taken from a health screening of all the inhabitants in one county: Norway. The participation rate was 72% to 90%. During the follow-up period, 715 individuals (2.1%) were granted a back pain disability pension. In the final combined multivariate model, the strongest predictors for future back pain disability were the occupational risk factor “physically demanding work” (odds ratio [OR], 4.1; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.7–6.4) and the comorbidity factor “poor general health” (OR, 3.7; 95% CI, 2.4–5.8). “Feeling of being worn out” (OR, 1.7; 95% CI, 1.1–2.4), current smoking (OR, 1.4; 95% CI, 1.2–1.7), and body mass index in the upper percentile (OR, 1.6; 95% CI, 1.2–2) also predicted back pain disability pension. In a broad public health perspective within a European welfare system, subjects at high risk for future back pain disability pension perceived their work as constantly physically demanding, had health complaints other than back pain, and mostly felt generally tired and worn out. The results indicate that interventions directed toward the painful back alone may be unsuccessful in preventing disability pensions.Keywords
This publication has 11 references indexed in Scilit:
- Systematic Review of Psychosocial Factors at Work and Private Life as Risk Factors for Back PainSpine, 2000
- Alcohol and low-back pain: A systematic literature reviewJournal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics, 2000
- Individual and occupational determinants of low back pain according to various definitions of low back painJournal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 2000
- Body Weight and Low Back PainSpine, 2000
- Physical load during work and leisure time as risk factors for back pain.Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment & Health, 1999
- Smoking and Low Back PainSpine, 1999
- Odds ratios should be avoided when events are commonBMJ, 1998
- Modified Work and Return to Work: A Review of the LiteratureJournal of Occupational Rehabilitation, 1998
- Correlates of back problems and back-related disability in the United StatesJournal of Clinical Epidemiology, 1997
- A cost-of-illness study of back pain in The NetherlandsPain, 1995