The prevalence of low back pain among female hospital staff at childbearing age
Fadi Hadidi, Isam Bsisu, Bassem I. Haddad, Saif Aldeen AlRyalat, Mamoun Shaban, Nada Y. S. Matani, Sondos Dehidi, Yasmeen Khater, Rana Shahrouri, Tasnim Al Muzayen, Hashem Al Hawamdeh
Abstract
Background Low back pain (LBP) is considered the most common work-related musculoskeletal disorder among female healthcare workers. The aim of this study is to compare the prevalence of LBP and non-ergonomic risk factors between female nurses, office workers, and patient transporters, and the effect of pain on job performance. Methods Based on semi-structured interviews, we conducted a cross-sectional study on Jordanian female hospital workers between January and July, 2017. Results We included 209 participants with a mean age of 35.57 ± 8 years from four Jordanian medical centers. Nurses have significantly higher frequency of LBP (82.5%; p = 0.05) compared to both office workers (67.5%) and patient transporters (68.6%). The mean difference in pain score using Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) after treatment varied significantly ( p = 0.003), since it was 28.2 (±35.4) for office workers, compared to 22.8 (±26.5) for nurses and 6.5 (±33.7) for patient transporters. A higher frequency of nurses reported that LBP affected their job performance (64.9%; p = 0.013), and 43.3% of them reported having previous sick leaves due to LBP ( p = 0.008). Conclusions LBP is common among female hospital workers, with significantly higher prevalence among female nurses when compared to other female hospital staff.