Sexual disability in patients with chronic non-specific low back pain—a multicenter retrospective analysis

Abstract

[Purpose] Oswestry Disability Index includes an item (Oswestry Disability Index-8) aiming to assess sexual disability associated to low back pain. The aim of this study is to investigate the percentage of participants who answered the Oswestry Disability Index-8, and the relevance and characteristics of sexual disability due to low back pain in Italian patients. [Participants and Methods] Design: multicenter retrospective analysis. Population: six hundred and ninety-seven outpatients with non-specific low back pain. Variables: pain characteristics (amount, localization, and duration of perceived pain), disability, and psychological variables (anxiety, depression, catastrophizing, kinesiophobia, pain acceptance, and pain vigilance and awareness). [Results] Seventy-seven participants (11.05%) did not answer the Oswestry Disability Index-8. The odds of being not responding to the Oswestry Disability Index-8 item appeared related to age (odds=7.50 for over 60), gender (odds=2.65 for females), and marital status (odds=2.33 for not married). Concerning the psychological variables, Activity Avoidance (coefficient=0.071), Depression (coefficient=0.068), and Rumination (coefficient=0.031) showed a positive impact on sexual disability. [Conclusion] In Italian patients, the percentage of not-responding to Oswestry Disability Index-8 was relatively low. In addition, sexual disability was related to depression, activity avoidance, and rumination.