Eun Young Choi

Department of Family Medicine, Dankook University Hospital, Dankook University College of Medicine, Cheonan, Korea


Background: Both low back pain (LBP) and obesity are important public issues, but the association between them is controversial. This study was conducted to investigate the association of LBP with obesity and abdominal obesity among Koreans aged 50 years or more.
Methods: This cross-sectional study analyzed data from participants aged 50 years or more (n=11,941) who measured height, weight and waist circumference and answered the questions about low back pain in the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2010-2013. To investigate the association of LBP with obesity and abdominal obesity, weighted univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were done after adjusting for socioeconomic variables and lifestyle variables.
Results: The prevalence of LBP in men and women was 13.1% (standard error [SE], 0.6) and 31.0% (SE, 0.8), respectively, higher in women than men (P<0.001). For women only, abdominal obesity was significantly associated with an increased prevalence of LBP (odds ratio [OR] 1.20, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.01-1.44) after adjustment of confounding variables, and the odds ratio of LBP in the highest quartile of waist circumference was higher compared to the lowest quartile of waist circumference (OR 1.30, 95% CI 1.02-1.66). For men abdominal obesity was not associated with an increased prevalence of LBP. There were no associations between obesity and LBP in both men and women.
Conclusions: This population-based, nationally representative study suggests that abdominal obesity increases the risk of LBP in women aged 50 years or more.
Korean J Health Promot 2018;18(3):119-126

Keywords: Low back pain, Obesity, Obesity, abdominal, Nutrition surveys