Occupational factors are not factors for chronicity in patients with low back pain in sub-Saharan Africans: a hospital-based study from Cameroon

Abstract

Background: Factors associated to chronicity of nonspecific Low Back Pain (LBP) are scarce in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA).

Objectives: To identify the factors associated to the persistence at two years of nonspecific LBP in rheumatology outpatients seen in a teaching hospital in Cameroon.

Design: This was a cross-sectional study done in the General Hospital, Douala.

Methods: Adult patients with chronic LBP were included and divided into two groups according to disease duration (<2 years and ≥2 years). Factors associated to the persistence at 2 years of LBP was statistically significant if p<0.05.

Results: Two hundred and three patients (157 women) with nonspecific LBP with mean age 55.9±12.8 years were included. The patients  were grouped into workers involved in heavy labour or in jobs that require physical efforts (n = 122; 60.1%) and workers in blue-collar jobs with prolonged standing and/or sitting (n = 81; 31.9%). The following factors were significantly associated with the persistence at two years of LBP: advanced age, female gender, high number of children (for women), history of LBP, multiple recurrences with persistent pain and the high pain intensity. Even though there is a tendency towards the statistical significance of the lifting of heavy loads (p=0.06), we did not find any significant association between the occupational factors and the persistence at two years of LBP.

Conclusion: There is a lack of association between the occupational factors and the persistence at two years of the LBP in a sub-Saharan population in Cameroon. Only some socio-demographic and clinical factors are statistically significant.