Objective-To test the hypothesis that reports of back pain in a workin
g population are associated with parenthood. Methods-A questionnaire s
urvey of back pain in municipal fire fighters and police officers in a
municipality in Ontario, Canada. The questionnaire was distributed to
current employees of fire and police departments. The survey was comp
leted by 129 fire fighters (68% of the active force) and 346 police of
ficers (74% of the force). Results-36% of the respondents complained o
f a back problem. The prevalence increased from 13% among men aged 19
to 28 to 47% among men aged 49 to 59. The complaint was more common am
ong firefighters (42%) than among police officers (33%). In a logistic
regression analysis, back problems were significantly associated with
the duration of employment, cigarette smoking, and the number of chil
dren. Conclusions-Back pain is a multifactorial problem with significa
nt impact on the working population. This survey has found that parent
hood, a risk factor not previously described among men, is associated
with self reported back pain. The mechanism presumably involves liftin
g of children or recreational factors. Fatherhood seems to be a confou
nder that should be controlled for in studies of occupational causes o
f back pain.