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Lower back pain causes more disability globally than any other condition
Lower back pain is the most common disability globally, with more research needed to better understand the disability, according to results of a recently published study.
Damian Hoy, MD, and colleagues found that of 291 conditions studied in Global Burden of Disease 2010, lower back pain (LBP) had the sixth highest burden.
“Globally, LBP causes more [years lived with disability] YLD than any other condition. Governments, health service and research providers and donors need to pay far greater attention to the burden that LBP causes than what they have done previously,” the researchers wrote in the study.
The researchers defined LBP as “pain in the area on the posterior aspect of the body from the lower margin of the twelfth ribs to the lower gluteal folds with or without pain referred into one or both lower limbs that lasts for at least one day.” In their systematic reviews on the prevalence, incidence, remission, duration and mortality risk of LBP, Hoy and colleagues identified four levels of severity for LBP with and without leg pain, each with their own disability weights. The global age-standardized point prevalence of LBP in 2010 was estimated to be 9.4%, which was also higher in men.
Hoy and colleagues reported that the disability-adjusted life years increased from 1990 to 2010. Disability-adjusted life year also increased from 58.2 million in 1990 to 83 million in 2010.
“Further research is urgently needed to better understand the predictors and clinical course of LBP across different settings, and the ways in which LBP can be prevented and better managed,” Hoy and colleagues wrote. – Robert Linnehan
Disclosure: Hoy has no relevant financial disclosures.
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Hoy D. Ann Rheum Dis 2014;doi:10.1136/annrheumdis-2013-204428