Factors associated with intensity and frequency of low back pain in high school students / Fatores associados à intensidade e a frequência de dor lombar em estudantes do ensino médio

ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION: Low back pain is frequent among schoolchildren and the variables related to high intensity and high back frequency are important predictors for the increase of such complaints in adulthood. OBJECTIVE: To determine the high intensity and high frequency of low back pain and its associated factors in high school students. METHODS: This cross-sectional study included 760 students (319 boys and 441 girls) who reported low back pain. Demographic, socioeconomic, electronic devices, habitual physical activity practice, mental health, and high frequency and high intensity low back pain data were collected. Descriptive analyzes and bivariate and multivariate logistic regressions were used. RESULTS: Of the total number of subjects with low back pain, 14.6% reported high frequency of pain, being 36.9% boys and 63.1% girls, while 42.6% reported high intensity, being 35.8% boys and 47.2% girls. The variables associated with the high frequency of low back pain were altered mental health, posture lying on the use of tablet, time of daily use of the cell phone and distance of the screen to the eyes of the computer user, while the female sex, mental health problem, posture lying on the use of cell phone and the distance of the screen to the eyes of the computer user with severe intensity of low back pain. CONCLUSION: The demographic factors and related to the use of electronic devices were associated with high intensity and high frequency of low back pain.