Prevalence and Risk Factors of Low Back Pain Among Academic Staff at Universities in Jeddah: A Cross Sectional Study

Abstract

Low back pain (LBP) is one of the most common causes of disability among workers, resulting in a significant financial burden. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of LBP and examine its risk factors among academic staff at universities in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. By using a cross-sectional study, where 384 academic staff who works in various universities in Jeddah, with age group between 25-55 years, participated in the study. A self-administered questionnaire was used to identify the prevalence, work-related and sociodemographic characteristics, and risk factors for the LBP of the participants in the study. The collected data was 60.16% male and 39.84% female. The prevalence of LBP was high among the age group 41-45years of age (20.57%), while the lowest was among the age group of 25-30 years of age (2.86%). The highest percentage of LBP was for Medicine/Health UTP (32.03%), whereas the lowest rate was among academia (0.26%). Subjects with 10-15 years of experience have a moderate disability (43.8%) compared to 0-5 years of experience (11.1%.). The findings of this study indicated a high prevalence of LBP among academic staff at universities in Jeddah, highlighting the vital role of physical therapists in the prevention of the same.