Nigerian Postgraduate Medical Journal · Published 2026-01-01 · DOI 10.4103/npmj.npmj_132_25
Background: Low back pain (LBP) in low- and middle-income countries has received less attention. Aims: To identify the prevalence of low back pain and associated factors in female hospital staff. Methods: We included 320 female hospital staff in a tertiary medical setting in the Kurdistan Region. Results: The study involved 320 participants aged 18–45 years, included doctors (37.19%), nurses (19.06%), administrative staff (11.88%) and others (31.88%). It found that 75% experienced LBP in the past year, with 60% reporting pain lasting 7–12 months. Pain severity was mostly mild (44.58%) or moderate (35%), and 80.83% experienced occasional pain. LBP interfered with daily activities for 45.42% of participants. Work-related factors contributing to LBP included prolonged standing (61.88%), sitting (39.38%), repetitive bending (22.19%), awkward postures (16.25%), crouching (16.25%) and stooping (16.25%). Those aged 31–35 are more likely to experience LBP than those aged 18–25 (odds ratio [OR]: 2.82; P = 0.0453) along with married individuals (OR: 2.34; P = 0.0136), doctors (OR: 3.06; P = 0.0136) and nurses (OR: 2.29; P = 0.0136), and healthcare workers (HCWs) compared to non-HCWs (81.67% vs. 66.43%; P = 0.0018). Evening or rotating shifts (OR: 8.23; P = 0.002) and awkward postures (OR: 2.41; P = 0.0358) also increased risk. Regular breaks reduced LBP likelihood (OR: 0.36; P = 0.0360), whereas a pregnancy history raised it (OR: 2.03; P = 0.0097). Conclusions: The female hospital staff had a high prevalence of LBP, linked to increasing age, being an HCW, working evening or rotating shifts and involving inappropriate postures.
Abstract from DOAJ. Public domain (CC0 1.0).
Read the article at the publisher →