Back pain of working pregnant women: identification of associated occupational factors.

The objective of this study was to identify major occupational factors that were significantly correlated with back pain in pregnant women working in higher education, health care and service areas. A total of 73 working pregnant women were surveyed using questionnaires specifically designed for evaluating correlations between occupational factors and severity of back pain; 37 women were interviewed at both 20 and 34 weeks of pregnancy, 17 at 20 weeks only, and 19 were interviewed at 34 weeks only. "Rest breaks allowed" and "job autonomy" were negatively correlated with severity of back pain at 20 weeks of pregnancy. "Staying in a confined area" and "having restricted space" were positively correlated with severity of back pain at 34 weeks of pregnancy. The study suggests that allowing pregnant women to take more rest breaks and to have more job autonomy may reduce the severity of back pain during early pregnancy, and that allowing movement outside the working area and providing less restricted space may reduce back pain during late pregnancy.