Association between chronic low back pain and degree of stress: a nationwide cross-sectional study

Abstract

Low back pain (LBP) is a very common health problem worldwide, and has a major impact on quality of life. This is a cross-sectional study using data obtained from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES) to investigate the health and nutritional status of Korean people, conducted in 2013, 2014, and 2015. The total of 8,473 patients included in the analysis. A 357 (19.34%) subjects in the chronic LBP group and 1,697 (25.61%) subjects in the no chronic LBP group reported no stress (P < 0.001). The numbers of subjects reporting mild, moderate, and severe stress in the two groups were 934 (50.6%) vs. 3,785 (57.11%), 432 (23.4%) vs. 910 (13.73%), and 123 (6.66%) and 235 (3.55%), respectively (all P < 0.001). Multiple logistic regression analysis with full adjustment for other variables indicated higher OR for severe stress (OR 2.82, P < 0.001) than moderate (OR 2.54, P < 0.001) and mild (OR 1.55, P < 0.001) stress. We confirmed that there was a significant association between chronic LBP and degree of stress. Therefore, the degree of stress should be assessed in clinical treatment of chronic LBP patients.

Prevalence and exposure to factors associated with low back pain (LBP) among commercial motorcycle riders in south eastern Nigeria

“…87.7% stated that stress during and after work increased the pain and conflicts at work was reported by 66.9% of the respondents. This finding is similar to the findings of Choi et al (2021) that stress causes the excess release of cortisol and adrenaline leading to cellular injury or aging and systemic tissue degeneration presenting symptoms including chronic pain [27].…”

A Study from a Highly Populated Country : Risk Factors Associated with Lower Back Pain in Middle-Aged Adults

“…According to the findings of this study, the severity of stress had a significant correlation with low back pain. This study agreed with a Korean study that found severe stress was associated with a 2.8-fold increase in the risk of chronic low back pain compared to the general population 9) . Stress causes cortisol to be secreted in the bloodstream.…”

Digital Therapeutics (DTx) Expand Multimodal Treatment Options for Chronic Low Back Pain: The Nexus of Precision Medicine, Patient Education, and Public Health

“…Development of exposome-responsive DTx for CLBP is illustrated in Figure 8. Since both stress and adequate sleep are associated with CLBP [132][133][134][135], development and validation of wearables that can measure stress and sleep [136] can also advance the development of biofeedback-based digital interventions for CLBP. We recently described how DTx can accommodate multiple modalities to yield personalized drug + digital combination therapies ("precision metapharmacology") for people living with chronic diseases, such as chronic pain, epilepsy, depression, and cancer [126].…”