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American Journal of Epidemiology Vol. 154, No. 1 : 30-36
Copyright © 2001 by The Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health

ORIGINAL CONTRIBUTIONS

Risk Factors for the Development of Low Back Pain in Adolescence

Debbie Ehrmann Feldman1,2, Ian Shrier1, Michel Rossignol1 and Lucien Abenhaim1

1 Centre for Clinical Epidemiology and Community Studies, SMBD Jewish General Hospital, and Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
2 Groupe de Recherche Interdisciplinaire en Santé, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Québec, Canada.

A previous history and earlier onset of low back pain are associated with chronic low back pain in adults, implying that prevention in adolescence may have a positive impact in adulthood. The study objectives were to determine the incidence of low back pain in a cohort of adolescents and to ascertain risk factors. A cohort of 502 high school students in Montreal, Canada, was evaluated during 1995–1996 at three separate times, 6 months apart. The outcome was low back pain occurrence at a frequency of at least once a week in the previous 6 months. Of the 377 adolescents who did not complain of low back pain at the initial evaluation, 65 developed low back pain over the year (cumulative incidence, 17 percent). Risk factors associated with development of low back pain were high growth (odds ratio = 3.09; 95 percent confidence interval (CI): 1.53, 6.01), smoking (odds ratio = 2.20; 95% CI: 1.38, 3.50), tight quadriceps femoris (odds ratio = 1.02; 95% CI: 1.00, 1.05), tight hamstrings (odds ratio = 1.04; 95% CI: 1.01, 1.06), and working during the school year (odds ratio = 1.33; 95% CI: 1.03, 1.71). Modifying such risk factors as smoking and poor leg flexibility may potentially serve to prevent the development of low back pain in adolescents.

adolescence; low back pain; risk factors

Abbreviations: CI, confidence interval.


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 Arch. Dis. Child.Home page
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