Table 3. Characteristics of Older Adults With and Without Back Pain^* (n=252).

	Back pain on none/few/some days (n=195)	Back pain on most/all days (n=57)	p-value
Sociodemographic and Health Factors
Age (yrs.)	66.7 (9.0)	69.6 (9.1)	0.03†
Female Sex	91 (46.7%)	31 (54.4%)	0.31
College Education	81 (42.2%)	23 (41.1%)	0.96
Working or volunteering   (homemakers defined as working)	130 (66.7%)	29 (51.8%)	0.04†
Retired from usual occupation or   otherwise not employed	95 (48.7%)	37 (66.1%)	0.02†
Married	125 (65.1%)	36 (65.5%)	0.96
Live alone	38 (19.5%)	17 (29.8%)	0.10
Body Mass Index (kg/m2)	28.0 (4.6)	29.0 (5.5)	0.23
Smoked regularly in last year	14 (7.7%)	5 (8.8%)	0.79
Spinal Degeneration on CT Imaging
Any moderate facet joint OA	164 (84.1%)	52 (91.2%)	0.18
Any severe facet joint OA	91 (46.7%)	36 (63.2%)	0.03†
No joints with severe OA	104 (53.3%)	21 (36.8%)
1-2 joints with severe OA	55 (28.2%)	16 (28.1%)	0.006†‡
3-8 joints with severe OA	36 (18.5%)	20 (35.1%)
Any moderate DHL	135 (70.3%)	40 (70.2%)	0.98
Any severe DHL	76 (39.6%)	22 (38.6%)	0.89
No levels with severe DHL	116 (60.4%)	35 (61.4%)
1 level with severe DHL	55 (28.6%)	13 (22.8%)	0.72‡
2-4 levels with severe DHL	21 (10.9%)	9 (15.8%)

^*Mean (standard deviation) or N (%)

^†Statistically significant (p ≤ 0.05)

^‡chi-square test for trend