Opšta Medicina (Jan 2019)
Comorbidities and functional disability in chronic low back pain
Abstract
Introduction: Chronic low back pain is a syndrome caused by different anatomical and functional disorders of the lumbar spine and its surroundings, lasting over three months. Life quality includes the subjective experience of self-functioning degree, as well as objective evaluation of the medical condition. Objective: Survey objective was to evaluate the influence of the comorbidities on the functional disability level in patients with chronic low back pain. Methods: The survey was performed as a cross-sectional study in Primary Health care Center Krupa na Uni from October 1st, 2016 to September 1st, 2017. The sample included 115 randomly chosen patients, 50 (43.48%) men and 65 (56.52%) women, of average age 46±8.9. Research instruments were Roland Morris Disability Questionnaire, Fear Avoidance Beliefs, Patient Health Questionnaire, Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Beck's Depression Inventory as well as specifically created questionnaire for this survey. Data processing was performed using standard statistical methods. Results: Statistically significant functional disability increase was found in these comorbidities: chronic gastritis 28.7% (p=0.006), obesity (BMI > 25) 65.2% (p=0.007), alcoholism 10.4% (p = 0.004), multinodular goiter 6.1% (p= 0.006), anxiety 73.7% (p=0.035) and depression 37.4% (p =0.042) . Conclusion: Early detection and adequate treatment of the comorbidites in patients with low back pain in GP offices would drastically lower functional disability, health care expenses and income loss due to the lack of productivity.
