The association of low back pain with obesity in one of the primary health care centers

Abstract EN

Objective : The present study was designed to assess the association between low back pain and obesity in patients attending one of the primary health care centers.

Methods : A case control study of patients attending Marka Medical Center (Amman Jordan) was conducted over 7 months (Jan-Jul 1998).

All patients with low back pain were included as cases and an equal number of controls, matched for sex and age (±3 years) were randomly selected for comparison.

WHO classification was used for categorization of Body Mass Index (BMI).

Results : There were a total of 513 (208 males and 305 females) patients complaining of low back pain.

Female to male ratio was 1.5 to 1.

The mean age of cases was 45.2 years; while that of the controls was 42.8 years.

Only 16.7 % of patients with low back pain can be considered as ideal body weight as compared with 58.1 % among controls.

The mean BMI (±SD) of cases was 32.2 (±7) Kg/m2 , while of the controls was 26.5 (±6.6) Kg/m2 (P < 0.001) and the difference was statistically significant in both genders (P < 0.001).

Conclusion : The obese patient is of a higher risk of developing low back pain and it is recommended that, health education regarding weight reduction is a useful means to prevent low back pain