Nakamura M1, Sato S2, Nemoto Y3, Takeda N4, Maruo K5, Fukuda Y6, Sawada S7, Kitabatake Y8, Arao T9
1Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Gerontology, Tokyo, Japan, 2University of Human Arts and Sciences, Graduate School of Sport Sciences, Saitama, Japan, 3Waseda University, Graduate School of Sport Sciences, Saitama, Japan, 4Kougakuin University, Division of Liberal Arts, Tokyo, Japan, 5University of Tsukuba, Faculty of Medicine, Ibaraki, Japan, 6Teikyo University, Graduate School of Public Health, Tokyo, Japan, 7Waseda University, Faculty of Sport Sciences, Saitama, Japan, 8Saitama Prefectural University, School of Health and Social Services, Saitama, Japan, 9Meiji Yasuda Life Foundation of Health and Welfare, Tokyo, Japan
Background: A high prevalence of low back pain in older adults has been reported, and becoming a factor of increasing medical and long-term care expenses in Japan. Therefore, prevention of low back pain is a major issue of public health.
Purpose: The purpose of this study is to clarify the prevalence and relevant factors of low back pain in community-dwelling independent older adults.
Methods: A self-reported questionnaire was mailed to 7,080 independent dwellers over 65 years old living in local Japanese municipality and 4,857 older adults responded (response rate 68.6%). Demographics (sex, age, education, and marital status), health status (body mass index [BMI] and current medical history), lifestyle (dietary habits, alcohol consumption, and smoking), presence of low back pain, physical activity, sitting time, and social participation were measured. Low back pain was evaluated by asking the question "Did you experience pain in parts of the body other than the knees on most days for the past month?" A participant who answered "Yes, I did" was categorized as "with low back pain", and the others were categorized as "without back pain". The International Physical Activity Questionnaire Short Version was used to assess physical activity and sitting time. With regards to physical activity, participants were classified into two groups: “non-sufficiency” or “sufficiency” based on the recommendation of the World Health Organization of 150 minutes physical activity per week. Missing values were supplemented by multiple imputation method based on full conditional specification model. A multiple logistic regression analysis was used to examine the association of low back pain with physical activity, sitting time, social participation, dietary habits, alcohol consumption, smoking, and BMI. All variables were entered simultaneously in the analysis model as independent variables. The model was adjusted for sex, age, education, marital status, and current medical history. All analysis were performed through the SPSS software (version 25.0 for Windows), and the statistical significance level was set at less than 5%.
Results: The number of participants with low back pain was 1,533 (prevalence rate: 31.6%) including 670 (30.3%) men and 863(32.6%) women. Physical activity, sitting time, and BMI were significantly associated with the presence of low back pain (p 0.001, p = 0.017, p = 0.020, respectively). The odds ratios for physical activity, sitting time, and BMI were 0.787, 0.861, and 0.835, respectively, while the 95% confidence intervals were 0.691－0.896, 0.761－0.974, and 0.717－0.972, respectively. Physical activity time (p 0.001) and BMI (p = 0.016) were identified as significant relevant factors of low back pain in older adults.
Conclusion(s): The prevalence of low back pain complaints in community-dwelling independent older adults was 31.6% and the factors related to low back pain were physical activity, sitting time, and BMI.
Implications: These results are helpful to presume the prevalence of low back pain and to develop the preventive measures against the pain in older adults in local community of Japan.
Keywords: older adults, low back pain, cross-sectional study
Funding acknowledgements: In this study, No potential COI to disclose.
Purpose: The purpose of this study is to clarify the prevalence and relevant factors of low back pain in community-dwelling independent older adults.
Methods: A self-reported questionnaire was mailed to 7,080 independent dwellers over 65 years old living in local Japanese municipality and 4,857 older adults responded (response rate 68.6%). Demographics (sex, age, education, and marital status), health status (body mass index [BMI] and current medical history), lifestyle (dietary habits, alcohol consumption, and smoking), presence of low back pain, physical activity, sitting time, and social participation were measured. Low back pain was evaluated by asking the question "Did you experience pain in parts of the body other than the knees on most days for the past month?" A participant who answered "Yes, I did" was categorized as "with low back pain", and the others were categorized as "without back pain". The International Physical Activity Questionnaire Short Version was used to assess physical activity and sitting time. With regards to physical activity, participants were classified into two groups: “non-sufficiency” or “sufficiency” based on the recommendation of the World Health Organization of 150 minutes physical activity per week. Missing values were supplemented by multiple imputation method based on full conditional specification model. A multiple logistic regression analysis was used to examine the association of low back pain with physical activity, sitting time, social participation, dietary habits, alcohol consumption, smoking, and BMI. All variables were entered simultaneously in the analysis model as independent variables. The model was adjusted for sex, age, education, marital status, and current medical history. All analysis were performed through the SPSS software (version 25.0 for Windows), and the statistical significance level was set at less than 5%.
Results: The number of participants with low back pain was 1,533 (prevalence rate: 31.6%) including 670 (30.3%) men and 863(32.6%) women. Physical activity, sitting time, and BMI were significantly associated with the presence of low back pain (p 0.001, p = 0.017, p = 0.020, respectively). The odds ratios for physical activity, sitting time, and BMI were 0.787, 0.861, and 0.835, respectively, while the 95% confidence intervals were 0.691－0.896, 0.761－0.974, and 0.717－0.972, respectively. Physical activity time (p 0.001) and BMI (p = 0.016) were identified as significant relevant factors of low back pain in older adults.
Conclusion(s): The prevalence of low back pain complaints in community-dwelling independent older adults was 31.6% and the factors related to low back pain were physical activity, sitting time, and BMI.
Implications: These results are helpful to presume the prevalence of low back pain and to develop the preventive measures against the pain in older adults in local community of Japan.
Keywords: older adults, low back pain, cross-sectional study
Funding acknowledgements: In this study, No potential COI to disclose.
Topic: Health promotion & wellbeing/healthy ageing; Older people; Pain & pain management
Ethics approval required: Yes
Institution: University of Human Arts and Sciences
Ethics committee: Ethics Review Committee of University of Human Arts and Sciences
Ethics number: Ethics approval number 543
All authors, affiliations and abstracts have been published as submitted.
