FACTORS PREDICTING BACK PAIN AND DISABILITY IN PATIENTS WITH NON–SPECIFIC LOW BACK PAIN

Abstract

Back pain and disability in patients with non-specific low back pain are chronic health problems and this continues to increase among Thai population. The current study was based on a prospective observational design, the objective of which was to identify factors predicting back pain and disability in patients with non-specific low back pain.The samples were patients diagnosed with non–specific low back pain, who were treated in an outpatient department at Nakhon Phanom Hospital. The 95 patients were enrolled in the study between May and December 2019. Data were collected through questionnaires. The research instruments used included the low back pain scale and the disability low back pain form. Finally, data were analyzed using binary logistic regression analysis method.There were 95 patients in the present study. According to the study, the farmers were at risk of low back pain up to 0.25 times more than those of non-farmers (AOR = 0.25, 95%CI:0.07 – 0.96, p<0.05). The subjects with high disability were 4.32 times more likely to be at risk of low back pain than those with normal and low disability (AOR=4.32, 95%CI: 1.46-12.78, p< 0.05). In addition, gender, body mass index, history of back pain treatment, and duration of current episode were not found to influence lower back pain. Given factors influencing the disability, males were 3.37 times more likely to be at risk of disability than females (AOR = 3.37, 95%CI: 1.03 – 11.09, p<0.05) and (AOR=0.26 95%CI=0.07-0.99, p<0.05). The study also revealed that occupation, body mass index, duration of current episode, and history of back pain did not influence disability.