Ghufran Hesham Kheshaifaty^1,, Saud Hasan Surbaya²

Background: Low back pain (LBP) is a major cause of disability, interfere with quality of life and work performance. Very limited studies have been carried in Saudi Arabia among teachers. Objectives: To estimate the prevalence and identify the determinants of LBP among female secondary school teachers in Eastern region at Makkah city. Subjects and methods: A cross-sectional analytic study was conducted among female secondary school teachers in Makkah city (eastern region) throughout the scholastic year 2019-2020 (December- January). A self- administered valid Arabic questionnaire was used in data collection. Results: The study included 207 female teachers. Most of them (60.4%) aged between 40 and 49 years. History of having low back pain during the last week (Point prevalence) was 62.8% whereas total prevalence of LBP during the last 12 months was77.8%. Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that married teachers were 86% at lower risk for LBP compared to singles (Adjusted odds ratio “AOR”:0.14, 95% confidence interval “CI”: 0.02-0.83, p=0.030. Teachers with more number of teaching hours/week (>20) were at almost double-risk for having LBP compared to those with 1-10 hours/week (AOR: 2.13, 95%CI: 1.63-24.02, p=0.036). Teachers with history of chronic diseases were at greater risk for developing LBP compared to those without chronic diseases (AOR: 4.21, 95%CI: 1.03-17.19, p=0.045). Feeling anxious within the last two weeks was accompanied by significant increased risk for LBP (AOR: 3.77, 95%CI: 1.46-9.75, p=0.006). Similarly, complaining of upper back pain, neck pain, throat infection was significantly associated with greater risk of LBP (AOR: 5.62, 95%CI: 2.18-14.48, p<0.001). Considering normal BMI subjects as a reference category, obese teachers were at 6-folded risk for LBP (AOR: 6.41, 95%CI: 1.83-22.43, p=0.004). Conclusion: Low back pain is a very common problem, affecting most of female secondary school teachers in Eastern Region of Makkah city, with adverse impact on sleeping quality and work performance. Such a common medical problem needs to be further studied in our community.

Low Back Pain, prevalence, female Secondary School Teachers, Saudi Arabia