Title of article :
Low Back Pain and Associated Factors among Primary School Teachers in Mekele City, North Ethiopia: A Cross-Sectional Study
Author/Authors :
Kebede, Aregawi Mekele City Health Office - Mekele, Ethiopia , Abebe, Solomon Mekonnen Department of Human Nutrition - College of Medicine and Health Science - Institute of Public Health - University of Gondar - Gondar, Ethiopia , Woldie, Haile Department of Human Nutrition - College of Medicine and Health Science - Institute of Public Health - University of Gondar - Gondar, Ethiopia , Yenit , Melaku Kindie Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, College of Medicine and Health Science - Institute of Public Health - University of Gondar - Gondar, Ethiopia
Abstract :
Lowbackpain(LBP)isthemostprevalentmusculoskeletaldisorderamongteachers.Thepain,whichiswidely
consideredtobecausedbyoccupationalactivities,hasasignificantimpactonteachers’qualityoflifebecauseitresultsin
frequentsickleaves,functionalimpairment,andearlyretirement.Itisalsodemandingintermsoftreatmentcosts,individual
suffering,anddiscontinuationofjobs.Therefore,thisstudyassessedthemagnitudeoflowbackpainandassociatedfactors
amongprimaryschoolteachersinMekeleCity,northEthiopia.Methods.Aninstitution-basedcross-sectionalstudywhich
included611publicprimaryschoolteachersofMekeleCitywasconductedfromMarchtoApril2015.Amultivariablelogistic
regressionanalysiswasusedtoidentifyfactorsassociatedwithlowbackpain.Theadjustedoddsratio(AOR)witha95%
confidenceinterval(CI)wasusedtoshowthestrengthoftheassociations,andvariableswithapvalueoflessthan0.05were
consideredstatisticallysignificant.Results.Inthisstudy,theprevalenceoflowbackpainwas74.8%(95%CI:71.4-78.2).
Accordingtothemultivariateanalysis,thepainwasassociatedwithteachers’sleepingdisturbance(AOR=6.99;95%CI:2.20,
13.63),prolongedstanding(AOR=4.78;95%CI:3.75,9.32),andirregularphysicalexercise(AOR=1.46;95%CI:1.29,5.10).
Conclusion.Thestudyshowedthattheprevalenceoflowbackpainwashigh.Sleepingdisturbance,prolongedstandingduring
sessions,andirregularphysicalactivityweresignificantlyassociatedwiththeproblem.Therefore,addressingwork-relatedand
individualfactorsisessentialfordecreasingtheburden
Keywords :
Low Back Pain , Associated Factors among Primary School Teachers , Mekele City , North Ethiopia , A Cross-Sectional Study , LBP
Journal title :
Occupational Therapy International
