Study of the Prevalence and Risk Factors for Low Back Pain in Truck Drivers in the State of São Paulo, Brazil

Abstract

Andrusaitis SF, Oliveira RP, Barros Filho TEP. Study of the prevalence and risk factors for low back pain in truck drivers in the state of São Paulo, Brazil. CLINICS. 2006;61(6):503-10. OBJECTIVE:To investigate the prevalence of low back pain in truck drivers and check for possible risk factors related to the presence of low back pain. METHODS: A questionnaire was developed including personal factors such as age, practice of physical and sports activities, general health habits, occupation-related issues, and factors associated with low back pain. The body mass index (ratio of body weight to the square of height, kg/m 2 ) was calculated. Of 489 male truck drivers assessed, 410 were enrolled into the study. The statistical analysis was divided into 2 stages: descriptive analysis of data, and binary logistical regression, where the response (dependent) variable (presence of low back pain) was associated with each independent variable to check for correlation with low back pain. RESULTS: Of the 410 truck drivers evaluated, 242 (59%) presented with low back pain, while 168 (41%) did not have low back pain. The only factor correlated with the presence of low back pain was the number of working hours; the other factors had no correlation with low back pain. CONCLUSION: The prevalence of low back pain in truck drivers was 59%. The number of working hours was the only variable associated with occurrence of low back pain, with an average of about 1 hour longer work time for drivers with low back pain compared to those without it and with an odds ratio of 1.07 (P = 0.026).

Prevalência de dor lombar crônica na população da cidade de Salvador

“…O estudo de Silva et al, entretanto, não utilizou os critérios de cronicidade internacionalmente aceitos; ao invés disso, considerou sete semanas como definição de dor crônica e está em discordância com a maioria dos achados da literatura sobre o tema (7)(8)(11)(12) .…”

“…Além disso, vários estudos relatam sua associação com determinados tipos de ocupações. Segundo Andrusaitis et al, ocupações em que o trabalhador passa muito tempo sentado seriam um fator positivamente associado à lombalgia (8) . Silva et al revelam que ocupações em que os indivíduos permaneçam muito tempo deitados, carregando peso ou realizando movimentos repetitivos, aumentariam a probabilidade de desenvolvimento da dor lombar (4) .…”

Prevalência da dor lombar no Brasil: uma revisão sistemática

“…After the screening process (titles, abstracts, and full text reading), 18 studies 34,35,36,37,38,39,40,41,42,43,44,45,46,47,48,49,50,51 (with a population of 19,387 individuals and samples varying from 56 to 3,269 participants 34,39 ) met the inclusion criteria. Figure 1 shows flow diagram of this review.…”

“…The principal research design was crosssectional. Data collection used original questionnaires in 50% of the studies 34,37,40,41,42,44,46,49,50 , while the Nordic questionnaire 52 was used in the remaining studies 35,36,38,39,43,45,47,48,51 . In most of the studies, prevalence of low back pain was verified in specific groups of workers or in students.…”

“…Three studies only presented clear definitions of low back pain 40,45,46 , nevertheless using different concepts. No study in this review reported the minimum duration of pain in order to be considerate as an episode of low back pain.…”