Prevalence of Low Back Pain and Associated Risk Factors among Nurses at King Abdulaziz University Hospital.

AIM

To determine the prevalence of LBP and the associated risk factors among nurses at King Abdulaziz University Hospital (KAUH).

METHODS

A cross-sectional study design was adopted with a convenience sample of 234 nurses recruited from nine different departments at KAUH in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Participants completed the questionnaire, which had two parts: Part I: Socio-demographic data, medical factors, and work-related factors; and Part II: Standardized Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire was used to obtain data. Data collection was carried out from March to April 2020. Data were analyzed using the SPSS version 22.

RESULTS

Cumulative prevalence of LBP was 82.9%, annual prevalence was 85.5%, while one-week prevalence of LBP was 53.6%. The factor significantly associated with LBP over the past 12 months was manual lifting of patients ( = 0.030). Nurses working in surgical wards had higher prevalence of LBP. About 24.7% of them changed their working unit, hospitalization was necessary for 11.9%, and 39.8% sought medical care.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings from this study may better enable policymakers to adopt certain strategies toward reducing the burdens and challenges of LBP among nurses.