NONSPECIFIC LOW-BACK-PAIN AMONG SCHOOLCHILDREN - A FIELD SURVEY WITH ANALYSIS OF SOME ASSOCIATED FACTORS

A study population composed of 1,755 children 8-16 years of age were s urveyed using a 15-item, self-administered questionnaire. The response rate was 97.7%. The purpose of the survey was to evaluate the possibl e association between low-back pain and certain social factors and pre dicaments. Descriptive statistics and logistic regression analysis sho wed that parental history of treated low-back pain (adjusted odds rati o 2.10; p < 0.001), competitive sports activity (adjusted odds ratio 1 .73; p = 0.003), and time spent watching television (adjusted odds rat io 1.23; p = 0.05) significantly increased the risk for low-back pain among children, controlling for the child's age and gender.