The Relationship Between Spinal Pain and Comorbidity: A Cross-sectional Analysis of 579 Community-Dwelling, Older Australian Women

• Published in: Journal of manipulative and physiological therapeutics 2017-09, Vol.40 (7), p.459-466
• Main Authors: de Luca, Katie E., Parkinson, Lynne, Haldeman, Scott, Byles, Julie E., Blyth, Fiona
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aged; Analysis of Variance; Australia; Back Pain - epidemiology; Back Pain - physiopathology; Comorbidity; Cross-Sectional Studies; Disability Evaluation; Epidemiology; Female; Geriatric Assessment; Humans; Independent Living; Longitudinal Studies; Low Back Pain - epidemiology; Low Back Pain - physiopathology; Middle Aged; Multivariate Analysis; Neck Pain - epidemiology; Neck Pain - physiopathology; Pain; Psychometrics; Quality of Life; Risk Assessment; Socioeconomic Factors; Spinal Diseases - diagnosis; Spinal Diseases - epidemiology; Spinal Diseases - psychology; Women’s Health
• ISSN: 0161-4754; 1532-6586
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jmpt.2017.06.004

The aims of this study were to (1) report the prevalence and explore the influence of spinal pain on quality of life and (2) assess the relationship between spinal pain and the type and number of comorbidities. This cross-sectional study comprised 579 community-dwelling, older Australian women. Women had “spinal pain” if they marked “yes” to neck pain, upper back pain, mid-back pain, and/or lower back pain. Descriptive statistics and binary logistic regression were performed to report the prevalence and explore the relationship between spinal pain and the type and number of comorbidities. A majority of women (55.8%) who returned surveys had spinal pain. Women with spinal pain had significantly lower physical and mental quality of life scores than women without spinal pain (Medical Outcomes Study: 36 Item Short Form Survey [SF-36] physical component summary: 40.1 ± 11.1 vs 49.0 ± 9.0, and SF-36 mental component summary: 50.0 ± 10.5 vs 53.9 ± 8.2, respectively). Having spinal pain was significantly associated with overweight and obesity (odds ratio 1.98 [95% confidence interval 1.3-2.96] and 2.12 [1.37-3.28]), diabetes (1.93 [1.01-3.67]), pulmonary comorbidity (1.66 [1.04-2.65]), and cardiovascular comorbidity (1.57 [1.07-2.28]). More than half of the women with spinal pain reported 2 or more comorbidities, with comorbidities significantly more common among women with spinal pain than among women without spinal pain. The odds of having spinal pain increased with an increasing number of comorbidities (2 comorbidities: 2.44 [1.47-4.04], 3 comorbidities: 3.07 [1.66-5.67], 4 comorbidities: 5.05 [1.64-15.54]). Spinal pain is common in community-dwelling, older Australian women and is associated with greater disability and poorer quality of life. Diabetes, cardiovascular disease, pulmonary disease, and obesity appear to have a relationship with spinal pain. There was an incremental increase in the risk of spinal pain associated with increasing comorbidity count.