Abstract
We aimed to assess if subjects with diabetes exhibit higher prevalence of chronic back pain than age-sex-province of residence-matched non-diabetic controls. We also aimed to identify predictors for chronic neck pain (CNP) or chronic low back pain (CLBP) among subjects with diabetes. A case control study was conducted using data obtained from the Spanish National Health Survey 2017. Multivariable conditional and unconditional logistic regression models were constructed. A total of 2095 diabetes sufferers and 2095 non-diabetic matched controls were analyzed. The prevalence of CNP and CLBP was 27.3% and 34.8%, respectively, in diabetes sufferers and 22.1% and 29.0% in non-diabetes controls (both, p < 0.001). After multivariable analysis, the ORs showed significantly higher adjusted risk of CNP (OR 1.34; 95% CI 1.19–1.51) and CLBP (OR 1.19, 95% CI 1.09–1.31) in diabetes cases. Diabetes sufferers with CNP or CLBP showed higher use of pain medication and higher prevalence of migraine/frequent headache than controls. Female sex, worse self-rated health and use of pain medication were predictors for CNP and CLBP in subjects with diabetes. CNP and CLBP are significantly more prevalent in diabetes sufferers than in controls. Current results can help to design better preventive and educational strategies for these highly prevalent and burdensome pains among diabetic patients.
Highlights
Diabetes is a chronic disease representing a major health problem worldwide
We aimed to identify the variables associated with suffering from chronic neck pain (CNP) or chronic low back pain (CLBP) among subjects with diabetes
The Odds Ratio (OR) showed significantly higher adjusted risk of CNP and CLBP in diabetes cases when compared with matched non-diabetic controls
Summary
Diabetes is a chronic disease representing a major health problem worldwide It is a potentially disabling condition ranked as the 18th most prevalent non-fatal condition globally [1]. In Spain, from 1990 to 2016, diabetes moved down from 6th to 10th cause of death but it was maintained the 9th in the rank among the most disabling conditions considering the years living with disability [6]. Low back and neck pain represent prevalent and disabling conditions which have shown a 19% increase in rate of prevalence and years living with disability from 2005 to 2015 [12]. Data from the 2017 Global Burden Disease revealed that low back pain was ranked as the first, diabetes as the 4th and neck pain as the 9th for females and 11th for males most disabling conditions worldwide [1]. The individual burden of having comorbid diabetes to musculoskeletal pain is substantially greater than the burden of having just one of each condition [13,14,15]
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