MiscellaneousThe role of obesity and physical activity in non-specific and radiating low back pain: The Young Finns study
Section snippets
Population
This study is a part of an ongoing follow-up study, the Young Finns Study. In 1980, children and adolescents aged 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, or 18 years (N = 4320) were invited to participate in the study. Of them, 3596 (83%) participated (Fig. 1) [32]. The study was carried out in five Finnish university cities. The follow-up studies were carried out in 1983, 1986, 2001, and 2007, the two latest follow-ups included questions on low back pain. A total of 2620 (73% of those who participated at baseline)
Background characteristics
The mean age of the study population at baseline (2001) was 31.4 years (Table 1). BMI increased by about one unit and waist circumference by almost 5 cm during the follow-up. A quarter of the study population participated in organized physical activity and a third commuted to work by walking or biking at baseline. Eighteen per cent of the subjects reduced and 12% increased their physical activity during 2001–2007 (Table 1).
Table 2 shows the baseline and follow-up physical activity (MET) scores
Discussion
Our findings show that obesity and low levels of physical activity independently increase the risk of radiating low back pain in young to middle-aged adults, but not non-specific low back pain. Increased incidence of radiating low back pain was observed in those with sustained low level of physical activity and in those active individuals who further increased their activity. Furthermore, the current study indicates that obese individuals who stay inactive are at the highest risk of radiating
Source of funding
This study was financially supported by the Academy of Finland (Grants 121584, 129378, and 129364), the Social Insurance Institution of Finland, government grants to Tampere and Turku University Hospitals, the Turku University Foundation, the Juho Vainio Foundation, the Finnish Foundation of Cardiovascular Research, the Lydia Maria Julin Foundation, Research Foundation of Orion Corporation, and the Finnish Cultural Foundation.
Author contributions
All authors were involved in the designing of the study. R. Shiri carried out the statistical analyses and drafted the manuscript. He had full access to the data and takes responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis. All authors critically revised the manuscript and approved the final version to be submitted for publication.
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