Dor lombar na Escola Superior de Tecnologia da Saúde do Porto: um estudo de prevalência

Objective: To determine the prevalence of self-reported back pain in the last four weeks, distinguishing the known cause of pain with nonspecific, individuals in the Escola Superior de Tecnologia da Saúde do Porto (ESTSP) and find correlation with the degree of disability in symptomatic individuals. Methods: 249 Individuals (students, teachers, administrative and teacher’s assistants), 37 males and 212 females, with average of age 29,6 (±11.0) and 25,4 (±9.67) respectively. This was a quantitative observacional, analytical and transversal study. The instruments used were a questionnaire to characterize the sample and variable low back pain (duration, recurrence, intensity-Visual Analogue Scale (VAS)), and the Roland- Morris questionnaire (disability). Statistical analysis was descriptive and inferential statistics, a significance level α = 0.05. Results: The prevalence in ESTSP was 50.2% (n = 125), of which 15.2% (n = 19) with specific cause stated. The prevalence was higher in females (51.9%) in the class [18-30] (51.1%) and administrative (55.0%). The intensity was 3.5 (± 1.82), and the median disability was 2.00 with range [0.00; 15:00]. There was a correlation between pain intensity and recurrence (rho = 0.40), disability and recurrence (rho = 0.30) and pain intensity and disability (rho = 0.55), p = 0.001. Conclusions: The prevalence of back pain in ESTSP was 50%, this knowledge allows us to evaluate their social impact in terms of costs and disability, which could increase the resources for research. The relationship between pain intensity and disability, pain intensity and recurrence and between recurrence and disability allows the perception of absenteeism caused by this condition.