Abstract
PurposeA multi-morbidity perspective of troublesome low back pain (LBP) has been highlighted for example in relation to respiratory disorders. Our purpose was to investigate whether respiratory disorders are risk factors for reporting troublesome LBP in people with no or occasional LBP at baseline.MethodsThis prospective cohort study was based on the Stockholm Public Health Cohort 2006/2010. We included adults reporting no or occasional LBP the last 6 months at baseline (n = 17,177). Exposures were self-reported asthma and/or Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). Outcome was troublesome LBP defined as reporting LBP a couple of days per week or more often that restricted work capacity or hindered daily activities to some or to a high degree, the last 6 months. Binomial regression models were used to calculate risk ratios (RR) with 95% confidence intervals (95% CI).ResultsAdjusted results indicate that those suffering from asthma had a risk of troublesome LBP at follow-up (RR 1.29, 95% CI 0.92–1.81) as do those suffering from COPD (RR 2.0, 95% CI 1.13–3.56). If suffering from asthma and concurrent COPD the RR was 3.55 (95% CI 1.58–7.98).ConclusionOur findings indicate that suffering from asthma and/or COPD increases the risk of developing troublesome LBP, which highlights the importance to consider the overall health of people at risk of troublesome LBP and to take the multi-morbidity perspective into consideration. Future longitudinal studies are needed to confirm our findings.Graphic abstractThese slides can be retrieved under Electronic Supplementary Material.
Highlights
Low back pain (LBP) is one of the largest health problems for public healthcare systems all over the world and is rated first among 291 disorders with most years lived with disability [1,2,3]
Among people reporting asthma in 2006 (n = 1139), 35 persons (3%) reported troublesome low back pain (LBP) in 2010 and among persons reporting Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) at baseline 2006 (n = 162), 11 persons (7%) reported troublesome LBP in 2010. For those suffering from both asthma and COPD at baseline (n = 37), 5 (27%) reported troublesome LBP in 2010
Mean age of the cohort was 49 (SD 16) years and for those suffering from asthma (SD16) years or for COPD (SD10) years
Summary
Low back pain (LBP) is one of the largest health problems for public healthcare systems all over the world and is rated first among 291 disorders with most years lived with disability [1,2,3]. Other risk factors, such as life style [9] and genetic influences [7, 10], for developing troublesome LBP are reported. The comorbidity perspective of LBP is relatively underinvestigated even if associations are reported [4, 11]. Beeckmans et al [12] stated that future research is needed to determine whether an association between LBP and RD is causative or not, to develop troublesome back pain
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