Back pain in adolescents: prevalence and associated factors

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Back pain is one of the most common pain in humans. It impacts the health and quality of life and can be disabling. Diseases detected in adolescence and poorly managed may get worse in adulthood. The objective of this study is to estimate the prevalence, the associated factors and the characteristics of back pain in adolescents living in the city of São Paulo. METHODS: A cross-sectional population-based study-Health Survey in São Paulo (2015) with 539 adolescents of both genders between 15 and 19 years old was used. The information was collected through home interviews and the participants were selected by probabilistic sampling. Frequencies, Chi-square test, and logistic regression analysis were used in this analysis. The level of significance was 5%. RESULTS: The estimated prevalence of back pain in adolescents in the city of São Paulo was 22.4%. Back pain in adolescents had the following associated factors: dizziness (OR 3.1), common mental disorder (OR 2.4), insomnia (OR 2.6) and perform household chores (OR 1.8). To relieve the pain, 46.6% of adolescents do nothing, 17.3% use self-medication and 8.9% use prescribed medication. CONCLUSION: Acknowledging back pain as a public health problem requires strategies that allow us to learn the origins, associated factors and coping strategies that may influence new ways of prioritizing and organizing healthcare.

Back pain in elementary schoolchildren is related to screen habits

“…Our study did not merely describe the prevalence of back pain in schoolchildren, nor did we restrict ourselves to investigating this phenomenon in just one region of the spine, as is usually the case [26] . Using BPI, it was possible to obtain relevant information about this phenomenon.…”

Perfil da sintomatologia dolorosa da coluna vertebral em estudantes de graduação em um município do Maranhão

“…A dor na coluna é uma das principais queixas na busca de atendimento ambulatorial tanto primário como secundário, sendo considerado um problema de saúde pública, é definida como uma sensação e experiência emocional, podendo levar à incapacidade ao indivíduo, medo e problemas psicológicos que podem explicar a dor na região da coluna vertebral (PATEL EA, et al, 2018;OKAMURA MN, et al, 2019; WILLIAMS AC e CRAIG D, et al, 2016; LEEA H, et al, 2015).…”

Doenças crônicas e problemas de saúde de adolescentes: desigualdades segundo sexo

“…Ao avaliar dor nas costas, este trabalho obteve achados muito similares (21,3%) aos do inquérito de São Paulo do mesmo ano (22,4%), que avaliou jovens de 15 a 19 anos. Por ser uma queixa multifatorial e ter origens diversas, dores nas costas representam uma grande parcela de afastamentos laborais, acarretando limitações severas ao longo da vida, o que pode ser agravado sem tratamentos e cuidados adequados 36 . No país, as prevalências encontradas em adultos variaram de 30,0% a percentuais acima de 60,0% 37,38 .…”

“…When assessing back pain, this study obtained very similar findings (21.3%) to those of a São Paulo survey of the same year (22.4%), which evaluated young people aged 15 to 19 years. As this complaint has a multifactorial nature and various origins, back pain is associated with many work leaves, resulting in severe limitations throughout life, which can worsen without proper treatment and care 36 . In the country, the prevalence in adults ranged from 30.0 to more than 60.0% 37 , 38 .…”