Epidemiology of Back Pain in Young and Middle-Aged Adults: A Longitudinal Population Cohort Survey From Age 27–50 Years

BACKGROUND Back pain is extremely common and a huge burden for both individuals and health care services. OBJECTIVE The aim was to determine the prevalence and incidence of lumbar and cervical back pain over 23 years and to quantify associations with concomitant disorders. METHODS Data on lumbar and cervical back pain, and mental disorders from the Zurich study, collected between 1986 (age men: 27/women: 28 years) and 2008 (age 49/50) were analyzed. Epidemiological parameters were representative rates for the general population. Associations were quantified by odds ratios (ORs). RESULTS Of 499 subjects, 68.9% ever experienced lumbar pain and 60.7% ever experienced cervical back pain; the 23-year prevalences were 66.9% and 54.9% and the 23-year incidences 52.3% and 48.9% for lumbar and cervical back pain, respectively. Annual prevalences varied between 28.4% and 47.2% for lumbar and 18.3% and 54.7% for cervical back pain; the corresponding annual incidences varied by 5.8-13.3% (lumbar) and 7.8-12.6% (cervical). Lumbar back pain was significantly associated with cardiovascular disease (OR = 4.58), obesity (OR = 3.99), asthma spectrum (OR = 5.76), tranquillizer dependence (OR = 5.84), and other comorbidities (ORs = 1.47-3.27). Significant associations with cervical back pain were observed for specific phobia (OR = 5.10), panic attacks (OR = 4.79), and other comorbidities (ORs = 1.61-2.62). CONCLUSIONS This study contributes to the refinement of epidemiological data on lumbar and cervical back pain. Some associations with treatable disorders were high, which may offer hope for the indirect management of lumbar and cervical back pain