Table 2.
Pain characteristics of employed patients with CLBP according to levels of presenteeism
| Total (n=239) |
No presenteeism (0%) (n=54) |
Low presenteeism (10%–20%) (n=71) |
High presenteeism (≥30%) (n=114) | P values* | |
| Severity of pain in prior week (0–10) | |||||
| Mean±SD Median (IQR) |
4.3±2.2 4.0 (3) |
3.6±2.1 3.5 (3) |
3.8±2.2 4.0 (4) |
4.9±2.2† 5.0 (4) |
<0.001 |
| Severity of pain currently (0–10) | |||||
| Mean±SD Median (IQR) |
4.5±2.3 5.0 (3) |
3.9±2.5 4.0 (3) |
4.0±2.3 3.0 (4) |
5.1±2.1† 5.0 (4) |
0.001 |
| Duration of lower back pain (months) | |||||
| Mean±SD Median (IQR) |
112.7±120.5 60.0 (156) |
112.6±130.3 39.0 (164) |
115.2±124.6 60.0 (156) |
111.2±113.9 60.0 (128) |
0.977 |
| Additional pains (total#, 0–6) | |||||
| Mean±SD Median (IQR) |
1.6±1.6 1.0 (3) |
1.1±1.4 1.0 (2) |
1.4±1.5 1.0 (2) |
1.9±1.6† 2.0 (2) |
0.003 |
| Severity of lower back pain‡ | 0.004 | ||||
| Mild (%) | 114 (51.8) | 33 (66.0) | 40 (61.5) | 41 (39.0) | |
| Moderate (%) | 88 (40.0) | 16 (32.0) | 21 (32.3) | 51 (48.6) | |
| Severe (%) | 18 (8.2) | 1 (2.0) | 4 (6.2) | 13 (12.4) | |
| Frequency of problems with pain | 0.259 | ||||
| Daily (%) | 96 (40.2) | 19 (35.2) | 26 (36.6) | 51 (44.7) | |
| 4–6 times a week (%) | 38 (15.9) | 3 (5.6) | 17 (23.9) | 18 (15.8) | |
| 2–3 times a week (%) | 52 (21.8) | 16 (29.6) | 14 (19.7) | 22 (19.3) | |
| Once a week (%) | 19 (7.9) | 6 (11.1) | 5 (7.0) | 8 (7.0) | |
| 2–3 times a month (%) | 21 (8.8) | 6 (11.1) | 5 (7.0) | 10 (8.8) | |
| Once a month or less often (%) | 13 (5.4) | 4 (7.4) | 4 (5.6) | 5 (4.4) | |
| Type of diagnosing doctor for lower back pain | 0.765 | ||||
| Orthopaedist (%) | 199 (83.3) | 44 (81.5) | 61 (85.9) | 94 (82.5) | |
| Other (%) | 40 (16.7) | 10 (18.5) | 10 (14.1) | 20 (17.5) | |
| Type of prescribing doctor | 0.124 | ||||
| Orthopaedist (%) | 56 (70.9) | 11 (73.3) | 16 (88.9) | 29 (63.0) | |
| Other (%) | 23 (29.1) | 4 (26.7) | 2 (11.1) | 17 (37.0) | |
| Current use of a prescription medication for pain | 0.028 | ||||
| NSAID (%) | 58 (24.3) | 10 (18.5) | 17 (23.9) | 31 (27.2) | |
| Other (%) | 15 (13.2) | 5 (9.3) | 1 (1.4) | 15 (13.2) | |
| None (%) | 160 (66.9) | 39 (72.2) | 53 (74.6) | 68 (59.6) | |
| Use of an OTC or herbal product for pain (%) | 81 (33.9) | 16 (29.6) | 23 (32.4) | 42 (36.8) | 0.621 |
| Depression severity (PHQ-9) |
|||||
| Mean±SD Median (IQR) |
5.5±5.6 4.0 (7) |
3.6±3.6 2 (6) |
3.9±4.0 3 (5) |
7.5±6.5† 6.0 (7) |
<0.001 |
*Continuous variables (eg, severity of pain) were compared using one-way analysis of variance or Kruskal-Walllis non-parametric tests (p values presented). Results from parametric and non-parametric tests were similar. Categorigal variables were compared using χ 2 or Fisher’s exact test.
†Post hoc pairwise comparisons versus no presenteeism were conducted using the Bonferroni correction. For variables with more than two categories, values in the same row were tested for equality of column proportions. Values with a subscript were significantly different from those with no presenteeism at p<0.05.
‡Data were missing for n=19 respondents.
CLBP, chronic lower back pain; NSAID, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug; OTC, over-the-counter; PHQ-9, Patient Health Questionnaire.