Psychosocial Factors and Low Back Pain Among College Students

OBJECTIVE AND PARTICIPANTS: The authors evaluated psychosocial factors of stress and their effects on the prevalence of low back pain (LBP) among a population of college students in a major university in Colorado. METHODS: This was a nested cross-sectional study of 973 respondents who completed the National College Health Assessment survey. The authors evaluated a subset of questions pertaining to psychosocial stressors against the presence of LBP. RESULTS: The annual prevalence of LBP among the population studied was 42.8%. The stressful psychosocial variables of feeling very sad, exhausted, and overwhelmed were associated with the prevalence of LBP. CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of LBP among this younger population is significant and understudied.