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. 2018 Sep 26;16(1):195.
doi: 10.1186/s12955-018-1018-4.

Chronic back pain and its association with quality of life in a large French population survey

Mathilde M Husky  1 , Farina Ferdous Farin  2 , Philippe Compagnone  3 , Christophe Fermanian  2 , Viviane Kovess-Masfety  4   5   6
Affiliations

Chronic back pain and its association with quality of life in a large French population survey

Mathilde M Husky et al. Health Qual Life Outcomes. .

Abstract

Background: Chronic back pain is associated with significant burden, yet few epidemiological studies have provided data on chronic back pain, its predictors and correlates in France.

Methods: Data were drawn from a cross-sectional survey conducted in France (n = 17,249) using computer-assisted telephone interviews. Sample age ranges from 18 to 98 with a mean of 46.39 years (SD = 17.44), and was 56.7% female. Medical conditions were assessed using the CIDI, quality of life was assessed using both the physical and mental component scores of the SF-36.

Results: Overall, 38.3% of adults reported chronic back pain. Female gender, older age, lower education, manual labor occupation, and population density were significantly associated with the distribution of chronic back pain. Chronic back pain was associated with lower scores on all SF-36 mean scores and on the Physical Composite Score and Mental Composite Score controlling for comorbid medical conditions including other types of chronic pain.

Conclusion: The study highlights the burden of chronic back pain in the general population and underscores its correlation with quality of life. Such data contribute to raise awareness among clinicians and health policy makers on the necessity of prevention, early diagnosis, proper management and rehabilitation policies in order to minimize the burden associated with chronic pain.

Keywords: Back pain; Chronic pain; Epidemiology; Quality of life.

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Conflict of interest statement

Ethics approval and consent to participate

Participants were given a complete description of the study and provided informed consent. The French ethics committee of the National Data Protection Authority (CNIL) approved recruitment and consent procedures.

Consent for publication

Not applicable.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

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