Pain prevalence on public servants: association with sedentary behavior and physical leisure activity

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: From usual actions which reflect lifestyle of those working on administrative functions, there is the sedentary behavior. This study aimed at associating prevalence of pain to sedentary behavior and physical activity level of public servants. METHODS: Sample was made up of 156 public servants of both genders, mean age of 39.8±12.3 years, working for a federal university of the Northeastern region of Brazil, who have answered a questionnaire with variables related to pain, sedentary behavior and practice of physical activity. For descriptive analysis data were expressed in mean, standard deviation, absolute and relative frequency. Regression analysis was used to estimate prevalence ratios and confidence interval of 95%. For adjusted analysis, all variables were included in the model, considering p≤0.05 significantly associated to the outcome. RESULTS: The prevalence of sedentary behavior watching TV was 24.4% and at work it was 88.5%. Approximately 65% of the sample were poorly physically active. Pain was reported by 76.3% of the sample. After adjusting for gender, age and physical activity, those spending more than two hours a day sitting watching TV and remaining sitting at work were subgroups with highest possibilities of having pain (p<.0.05). CONCLUSION: Approximately eight out of ten employees have reported musculoskeletal pain. From investigated behaviors, it was observed that servants spending a lot of time sitting had higher probability of reporting pain.