Factors Associated with Low Back Pain Among Health care workers in Kibuli Muslim Hospital Kampala, Uganda.

Abstract

Background: Low back pain has turn out to be an important public health issue as it has high prevalence rates in many countries and also it costs implications. It was also reported by Brennan et al, (2007) that low back pain not only considered to be the most common reason for functional disability worldwide, but also estimated to have affected 90% of the universal population. Objective: To determine the factors associated with low back pain among healthcare workers in Kibuli Muslim Hospital Kampala Uganda, during the period of July-August 2015. Methods: The researcher used a self structured questionnaire to determine the factors associated with the prevalence of low back pain among healthcare workers at Kibuli Muslim Hospital, Kampala Uganda. Data was entered using Epi info soft ware and analyzed using SPSS. Results: The result indicated that the point prevalence for low back pain in this current study was 84 %. The prevalence was higher among the female healthcare workers 54.76% than the male healthcare 45.24%. Socio-demographic factors like age, gender, marital status and occupational activities such as bending, sitting, standing and twisting were a key player in the development of low back pain although not significantly associated. Majority of the healthcare workers who were on night shift have high prevalence of low back pain, while leisure activities and training were the only significant factors in this study. Conclusion The study confirmed that the prevalence of low back pain among the healthcare workers in Kibuli Muslim Hospital was high. Age, female gender and occupational activities increase the risk of low back pain while preventives healthcare facilities and training of the healthcare worker reduces the risk of low back pain.