Table 3.
The 12 month prevalence of LBP among Botswana teachers in relation to individual and lifestyle factors
| Risk factorsa | % with LBP | P value |
|---|---|---|
| Gender | <0.001 | |
| Male | 47.7 | |
| Female | 58.7 | |
| Age (years) | 0.356 | |
| ≤30 | 53.5 | |
| 31-40 | 54.5 | |
| 41-50 | 58.9 | |
| >50 | 56.4 | |
| Body mass index | 0.673 | |
| <18.5 | 50.7 | |
| 18-24.9 | 54.1 | |
| 25-29.9 | 56.5 | |
| ≥30 | 57.2 | |
| Marital status | 0.220 | |
| Single | 53.7 | |
| Married | 57.9 | |
| Separated/divorced/widowed | 57.4 | |
| Education level | 0.515 | |
| Certificate | 51.1 | |
| Diploma | 55.3 | |
| Bachelor’s degree | 57.0 | |
| Number of children <6 years | 0.562 | |
| 1 | 55.2 | |
| ≥2 | 58.1 | |
| Previous injury | <0.001 | |
| No | 51.7 | |
| Yes | 91.8 | |
| Tobacco smoking | 0.120 | |
| Smokers | 42.9 | |
| Ex-smokers | 52.7 | |
| Never smoked | 56.3 | |
| Regular physical exercise (hours per week) | 0.024 | |
| ≤5 | 57.6 | |
| >5 | 47.2 | |
| School level | 0.176 | |
| Primary school | 57.5 | |
| Junior secondary school | 52.8 | |
| Senior secondary school | 54.1 | |
| Length of employment (years) | 0.307 | |
| ≤10 | 53.8 | |
| 11-20 | 56.1 | |
| 21-30 | 60.1 | |
| >30 | 58.1 | |
| Hours of work per week | 0.002 | |
| 40 | 54.2 | |
| >40 | 65.5 | |
| Average number of students taught | 0.591 | |
| ≤25 | 51.4 | |
| 26-30 | 57.0 | |
| 31-35 | 57.9 | |
| 36-40 | 55.0 | |
| >40 | 55.2 | |
| Extracurricular activities | 0.623 | |
| No | 56.6 | |
| Yes | 55.2 |
aStatistical associations between independent variables and LBP were evaluated using chi-squared. Statistically significant differences (p < 0.05) are marked in bold.