The Association of Low Back Pain with Obesity in One of the Primary Health Care Centers

Objective: The present study was designed to assess the association between low back pain and obesity in patients attending one of the primary health care centers. Methods: A case control study of patients attending Marka Medical Center (Amman Jordan) was conducted over 7 months (Jan-Jul 1998). All patients with low back pain were included as cases and an equal number of controls, matched for sex and age (±3 years) were randomly selected for comparison. WHO classification was used for categorization of Body Mass Index (BMI). Results: There were a total of 513 (208 males and 305 females) patients complaining of low back pain. Female to male ratio was 1.5 to 1. The mean age of cases was 45.2 years; while that of the controls was 42.8 years. Only 16.7% of patients with low back pain can be considered as ideal body weight as compared with 58.1% among controls. The mean BMI (±SD) of cases was 32.2 (±7) Kg/m 2 , while of the controls was 26.5 (±6.6) Kg/m 2 (P<0.001) and the difference was statistically significant in both genders (P<0.001). Conclusion: The obese patient is of a higher risk of developing low back pain and it is recommended that, health education regarding weight reduction is a useful means to prevent low back pain.