Psychological Factors associated with chronic low back pain in community-dwelling elderly women who participated in back school

Abstract

The present study aims to determine the physical and psychological factorsassociated with low back pain in community-dwelling elderly women who participated in back school. A total of 71 elderly women were enrolled in this study (mean age, 73.2 years;standard deviation, 6.0). We assessed their physical and psychological functions. After classifying the subjects as per the presence or absence of pain, we compare the two groups and multiple logistic regression analysis to clarify the factors related to low back pain. The inter-group comparison showed that the group with low back pain had significantly higher body weight, body mass index, fear-avoidance beliefs questionnaire (FABQ) score, and pain catastrophizing scale (PCS) score. Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that FABQ and PCS was associated with low back pain. Moreover, multiple logistic regression analysis involving the lower items of PCS showed that low back pain dependedonthe FABQ score and the rumination of the PCS score. We recommend that psychological factors be considered when assessing elderly woman with low back pain.