[Epidemiologic study on the prevalence of low back pain in health personnel exposed to manual handling tasks].

An epidemiological study on the prevalence rate of low back pain among health care workers exposed to manual handling tasks and physical work load was performed. A representative sample (n. 1053) of nursing staff working at the San Matteo Hospital in Pavia was studied using a questionnaire with the purpose of evaluating the prevalence rate of low back pain and related risk factors. 86.4% of the subjects admitted having suffered from back pain at some stage in their life and 71.0% complained of back pain in the 3 months prior to answering the questionnaire. Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed a significant correlation between low back pain, female gender and specific nursing activities. A significant correlation was found between smoking (> 20 cigarettes per day) and the presence of low back pain, due to intervertebral disk pathology. A statistically significant difference (p < 0.0001) was found in the average degree of disability between healthy nurses (1.3), those with low back pain taking analgesic drugs (5.9) and nurses suffering from low back pain without taking drugs (3.8).