Back pain among workers in the United States: National estimates and workers at high risk

TLDR

Back pain accounts for about one fourth of U.S. workers' compensation claims and was quantified using the Occupational Health Supplement of the 1988 National Health Interview Survey. The study defined workers as those employed in the prior 12 months and cases as those with daily back pain for at least a week, then applied a weighting factor to survey responses to estimate national figures.

Abstract

Back pain accounts for about one fourth of workers' compensation claims in the United States. The Occupational Health Supplement to the 1988 National Health Interview Survey provided an opportunity to assess the scope of this problem. The 30,074 respondents who worked in the 12 months before the interview were defined as "workers", and those with back pain every day for a week or more during that period were defined as "cases." A weighting factor was applied to the answers to derive national estimates. In 1988, about 22.4 million back pain cases (prevalence 17.6%) were responsible for 149.1 million lost workdays; 65% of cases were attributable to occupational activities. For back pain attributed to activities at work, the risk was highest for construction laborers among males (prevalence 22.6%) and nursing aides among females (18.8%). Our analyses show that back pain is a major cause of morbidity and lost production for U.S. workers and identifies previously unrecognized high risk occupations, such as carpenters, automobile mechanics, maids, janitors, and hairdressers, for future research and prevention.