Assessment of Risk Factors of Low Back Pain Among Hospital Nurses

Nursing is an occupation with high prevalence of low back pain (LBP). This pain is multifactorial and assessing its risk factors is essential. The study aim was to determine the prevalence and risk factors of LBP among 225 hospital nurses in Thailand in a cross-sectional study. A self-reported questionnaire divided into six parts including personal factors, working factors, job stress modified from the Nursing Stress Scale, low back pain modified from the Standardized Nordic Questionnaire, health behaviors, and work environment was used for collecting the data. Data were analyzed by descriptive statistics and logistic regression. Study results revealed that the prevalence of LBP in the past seven days was 34.2%. Logistic regression analysis indicated that lifting overweight patients without assistance (OR=1.8; 95%CI=0.95-3.77) and having previous diseases related to LBP (OR=6.3; 95%CI=1.65-24.32) were important risk factors of LBP. Study findings are useful for developing LBP preventive strategies including training on lifting and transferring overweight patients by using a lift team method and lifting devices, developing a manual or guidelines for safe patient handling, and treatment of LBP.