Post-Graduate Program in Epidemiology-Social Medicine Department, Federal University of Pelotas, Pelotas, Brazil.
BMC Musculoskelet Disord. 2013 May 1;14:155. doi: 10.1186/1471-2474-14-155.
Chronic low back pain (CLBP) is a highly disabling morbidity with high social, economic and individual effects. Demographic, occupational and behavioral changes that took place in Brazil over the last decade are related with an increasing burden of chronic conditions. Despite these changes, comparison studies on CLBP prevalence and associated factors, over time are scarce in the literature in general, and unknown in Brazil. The present study compared the CLBP prevalence in a medium sized city in Brazil between the years 2002 and 2010 and examined factors associated with prevalence in 2010.
Two cross-sectional studies with similar methodology were conducted in a medium-sized city in southern Brazil, in 2002 and 2010. 3182 individuals were interviewed in the first study and 2732 in the second one, all adults aged twenty years or more. Those who reported pain for seven weeks or more in the last three months in the lumbar region where considered cases of CLBP.
The CLBP prevalence increased from 4.2% to 9.6% in 8 years. In most of the studied subgroups the CLBP prevalence has at least doubled and the increase was even larger among younger individuals with more years of education and higher economic status.
Increase in CLBP prevalence is worrisome because it is a condition responsible for substantial social impact, besides being an important source of demand for health services.
慢性下腰痛（CLBP）是一种高度致残的疾病，具有很高的社会、经济和个体影响。巴西过去十年发生的人口、职业和行为变化与慢性疾病负担的增加有关。尽管发生了这些变化，但总体而言，关于 CLBP 患病率和相关因素的比较研究在文献中仍然很少，在巴西更是未知。本研究比较了巴西一个中等城市在 2002 年和 2010 年之间的 CLBP 患病率，并研究了 2010 年与患病率相关的因素。
在巴西南部的一个中等城市进行了两项具有相似方法的横断面研究。在第一项研究中，对 3182 名成年人进行了访谈，在第二项研究中，对 2732 名成年人进行了访谈，所有成年人年龄均在 20 岁或以上。那些在过去三个月中在腰部区域报告疼痛七周或以上的人被认为是慢性下腰痛（CLBP）病例。
在 8 年内，CLBP 的患病率从 4.2%上升到 9.6%。在大多数研究的亚组中，CLBP 的患病率至少增加了一倍，在教育程度更高、经济地位更高的年轻人群中，增加幅度更大。
CLBP 患病率的增加令人担忧，因为它是一种对社会影响很大的疾病，同时也是卫生服务需求的重要来源。
