Factors Affecting Disability with Low Backache Among Patients Visiting Tertiary Care Hospitals of Rawalpindi Pakistan

Objectives: To ascertain the factors affecting disability with low backache among patients visiting tertiary healthcare facilities of Rawalpindi. Subjects & Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study was done among 400 patients presenting with low backache in outpatient and emergency department of Holy Family Hospital and Benazir Bhutto Hospital Rawalpindi from September 2021 – February 2022. All cases presenting with low backache were enrolled in the study through consecutive non-probability sampling. Patients with any neurological disorder or mental illness were excluded. Data was collected by means of Oswestry Low back pain Disability Index questionnaire (ODI). Data was analysed by SPSS version 23.0. Descriptive statistics were applied. Mean ± SD of disability index was computed. Differences in mean disability index of the patients with respect to gender, employment and associated leg pain were determined by means of independent sample t-test. P < 0.05 was taken significant. Results: Of the 400 patients with low back pain, 54.3% and 45.7% were females and males respectively. Females had low backpain significantly greater than those of males (P 0.09). About 31% of the cases had back pain for more than 10 years. Their mean disability index was 30.54 ± 18.01 while those of males was 27.6 ± 15.9. The difference between mean disability index of office and field workers was statistically insignificant (P 0.57). Mean disability index of low back pain cases with associated leg pain was significantly higher than those without leg pain (P 0.01). Conclusion: Females are more prone to develop low back pain. Both field and office workers have almost equal risk of developing low backpain.