Table 5.
Personal and occupational risk factors associated with lower back pain in the preceding year
| Independent variable | Back pain in the past year | P | Relative risk | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No, n (%) | Yes, n (%) | |||
| Age (years) | ||||
| ≤30.0* | 17 (56.7) | 13 (43.3) | 0.908 | 0.9686 |
| 30.1-40.0 | 21 (55.3) | 17 (44.7) | 0.949 | 0.9822 |
| >40.0 | 19 (55.9) | 15 (44.1) | ||
| Nationality | ||||
| Saudi | 9 (32.1) | 19 (67.9) | 0.003 | 1.9313 |
| Non-Saudi* | 48 (64.9) | 26 (35.1) | ||
| Education | ||||
| Less than secondary* | 19 (59.4) | 13 (40.6) | 0.600 | 0.8633 |
| Secondary | 18 (52.9) | 16 (47.1) | 0.751 | 0.9141 |
| More than secondary | 20 (55.6) | 16 (44.4) | ||
| Job type | ||||
| Low skilled workers* | 25 (58.1) | 18 (41.9) | 0.695 | 0.9147 |
| High skilled workers | 32 (54.2) | 27 (45.8) | ||
| Work duration (years) | ||||
| ≤10.0* | 35 (55.6) | 28 (44.4) | 0.882 | 0.9630 |
| 10.1-20.0 | 14 (53.8) | 12 (46.2) | 0.734 | 0.8889 |
| >20.0 | 8 (61.5) | 5 (38.5) | ||
| Shift type | ||||
| Morning | 41 (56.9) | 31 (43.1) | 0.735 | 1.0839 |
| Evening* | 16 (53.3) | 14 (46.7) | ||
| BMI | ||||
| Underweight/normal | 25 (55.6) | 20 (44.4) | 0.953 | 0.9868 |
| Overweight/obese* | 32 (56.1) | 25 (43.9) | ||
| Smoking | ||||
| Never | 42 (66.7) | 21 (33.3) | 0.005 | 1.8462 |
| Ex-/current smoker* | 15 (38.5) | 24 (61.5) | ||
| Aerobic exercise | ||||
| None/≤3 days weekly* | 33 (46.5) | 38 (53.5) | 0.0138 | 2.3702 |
| >3 days weekly | 24 (77.4) | 7 (22.6) | ||
| Strength exercise | ||||
| None/≤3 days weekly* | 48 (54.5) | 40 (45.5) | 0.522 | 1.2727 |
| >3 days weekly | 9 (64.3) | 5 (35.7) | ||
*Reference group. BMI – Body mass index