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.