LOW-BACK-PAIN AMONG SAUDI SCHOOL WORKERS IN JEDDAH

Objective: Low back pain is a common complaint in many industrialised countries. Its prevalence is not yet verified in Saudi Arabia. The obj ectives of this study is to measure the prevalence of low back pain am ong Jeddah Saudi school workers and to detect the possible risk factor s implicated in its development.Methods: A case-control study design w as used. A total of 629 Saudi school workers from 33 schools in Jeddah were eligible for the study. The sample was selected by a stratified random sampling on educational level from 620 governmental schools in Jeddah city, and participants were interviewed using a structured ques tionnaire. Results: Cases suffering from low back pain accounted for 2 6.2%. The chief observation was that those of 35 years and over were a t 1.6 more risk than the younger group, women were at double risk than men and those living sedentary life were 1.5 more times at risk than those performing regular physical activity of at least one hour per we ek. Also, the risk of low back pain was negatively associated with the height of the participants, as taller individuals were at about half risk to develop low back pain. Moreover, according to our results obes ity was not statistically associated with low back pain. Conclusion: T he results of this study show a prevalence of 26.2% with low back pain and predict that the magnitude of the condition in Jeddah city could be as important as in industrialised countries. More research is recom mended to verify the true prevalence of low back pain in our community . Detect and verify, as well, the implicated risk factors associated w ith it and plan focused health programs to control the condition.