This application requests funding to identify risk factors for chronic back pain disability. The proposed study will draw on our existing data base of physical, psychological, and work-related premorbid data. This data base is unequalled in population size and scope of independent variables. Furthermore, this study will provide the longest follow-up of any such study to date. A better understanding of risk factors would provide a solid foundation for establishing appropriate programs to prevent chronic back pain disability, to enhance return to work, and to reduce the impact back pain has on the industrialized nations of the world. Our goal is to continue monitoring our subject population of 3,020 individuals so that risk factors for the development of chronic back pain disability can be identified. Our efforts to establish this data base have been supported to date by NIOSH; however, NIOSH has stated that the evaluation of chronic disability is beyond their scope of interest and has limited our funding to analysis for the prediction of acute industrial back injuries. To stop without evaluating chronic back pain disability would ignore the 10% of back injuries that cause the most suffering and account for approximately 80% of the total cost for back problems. We have already found that the first 26 subjects who developed disabling back problems of at least a three-month duration have a significantly different fitness level than their age-matched controls. With two more years of follow-up we estimate another 15 - 21 subjects will develop chronic back pain disability. An increased number of subjects in the chronically disabled category would add to the statistical power for the evaluation of other variables. Our results to date indicate that it is highly probable that analysis of premorbid data can predict chronic back pain disability and greatly increase our understanding of this expensive healthcare problem.
| Bigos, S J; Battie, M C; Spengler, D M et al. (1991) A prospective study of work perceptions and psychosocial factors affecting the report of back injury. Spine (Phila Pa 1976) 16:1-6 |
| Battie, M C; Bigos, S J; Fisher, L D et al. (1990) The role of spinal flexibility in back pain complaints within industry. A prospective study. Spine (Phila Pa 1976) 15:768-73 |
| Battie, M C; Bigos, S J; Fisher, L D et al. (1990) Anthropometric and clinical measures as predictors of back pain complaints in industry: a prospective study. J Spinal Disord 3:195-204 |
| Batti'e, M C; Bigos, S J; Fisher, L D et al. (1989) Isometric lifting strength as a predictor of industrial back pain reports. Spine (Phila Pa 1976) 14:851-6 |
| Battie, M C; Bigos, S J; Fisher, L D et al. (1989) A prospective study of the role of cardiovascular risk factors and fitness in industrial back pain complaints. Spine (Phila Pa 1976) 14:141-7 |
