Low back pain and associated factors among civil service sectors office workers in Southern Ethiopia

Abstract

Background: Low back pain is one of the most common work-related health problems among office workers. Low back pain has been identified as one of the most costly disorders among the worldwide working population. However, there is a lack of information on associated factors with low back pain which makes people not to work properly. 
 Objectives: This study was aimed to assess the prevalence and factors associated with low back pain among civil service sectors office workers in Southern Ethiopia.
 Methods: Institution based cross-sectional study was conducted among 625civil service sectors office workers, who work in the sitting position, in Sodo town, Southern Ethiopia from March 10 to June 20, 2017. The sampling frame was obtained from civil service office and simple random sampling technique was used for each stage. Data was collected by using a pretested structured questionnaire adapted from Standardized Nordic musculoskeletal Questionnaires and modified Oswestry through face to face interview and by using checklist for observations, which was measured by diploma nurses. Descriptive statistics like frequency, percentage, mean, median and standard deviation were conducted. Also, binary logistic regression was conducted and variables with p<=0.20 in bivariate analysis were fitted into the multiple logistic regression models to identify factors associated with low back pain. Variables with P value <0.05 were considered as statistically significant predictors of low back pain.
 Results: Out of the calculated sample size, 625 participants responded making a response rate of 99%. The 12-month prevalence of low back pain among civil service sectors office workers in this study was (38.4%) 95% CI: (0.34, 0.42).This study found that, being obese (AOR [95%CI] =6.3[4.29 - 9.09]), having smoking history (AOR [95%CI] =5.2[2.57 - 10.82]), poor sitting posture (AOR [95%CI] =2.6[1.61-4.30]), having job stress (AOR [95%CI] =5.9[3.44-10.25]), having no rest break during workday (AOR [95%CI]=3.2[1.82-5.62]), sitting >6 hours per day (AOR [95%CI]=16.08[14.4-19.3]) and frequently using computer (AOR [95%CI]=4.3[2.09-5.47]) are significantly associated with low back pain.
 Conclusion and recommendations: The 12-month prevalence of low back pain in this study is high (38.4%).Therefore, healthy lifestyle habits, good awareness of sitting posture and better ergonomic facilities and psychosocial support to workers were recommended to decrease the effects of predisposing factors of low back pain.

Prevalence of Occupational Related Upper and Low Back Musculoskeletal Disorders in Ethiopia: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

“…In this study, a total of 9,410 of the study participants regardless of their occupation categories, were included in 20 articles conducted in Ethiopia [29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48].…”

“…In this study, a total of 9,410 participants were included in 20 articles conducted in Ethiopia and published from 2017 to 2020 [29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48]: 9 (45.0%) articles [30,32,38,39,41,43,44,47,48] conducted in Oromia, three (15%) in Tigray [31,36,45], three (15%) in SNNP [29,34,35], three (15%) articles in Addis Ababa [33,40,46], two (10%) articles in Amhara regional state. All included studies were cross-sectional studies with a sample size ranging from 264 [45] to 771 [40] study participants.…”

“…Among the included articles, 10(50%) [30,33,34,36,37,39,40,42,43,47] of the included articles were reported the prevalence of both low back pain and upper back pain, 9(45%) articles [29,31,32,35,41,[44][45][46]48] reported the prevalence of low back pain alone and 1(5%) [38] reported the prevalence of upper back pain alone. Furthermore, 8 (40%) included articles were published in 2020 [29,31,32,34,[44][45][46][47], followed by studies published in 2019 [36][37][38][41][42][43] that accounted 6(30%) of the included articles. Based on JBI Critical Appraisal tool [25], all of the included articles had a low risk of bias.…”

“…Furthermore, after subgroup analysis was done based on the study population, the overall pooled prevalence of occupational-related upper back pain in the previous one year was 34.7% (95% CI: 33.1, 36.2% with P-value of < 0.001] (Fig. 3).…”

Occupational Related Upper and Low Back Pain Among Working Population of Ethiopia: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

“…Many studies have been conducted on occupational-related MSDs such as upper and lower back pain in different occupational settings in Ethiopia [22,23,[29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48]. However, no study that provides adequate evidence on the overall pooled prevalence of upper and lower back MSDs that may be important to policymakers, the federal Ministry of Health, and to better understand the current evidence on the prevalence of upper and lower back MSDs in Ethiopia.…”