The prevalence of low back pain in hospital staff and its relationship with chronic fatigue syndrome and occupational factors

Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the occurrence of low back pain in hospital employees during the previous year and its correlation with demographic data, occupational factors and chronic fatigue syndrome. Methods: All participants provided information on their socio-demographic background, occupational characteristics, their experience of low back pain during the previous year, and chronic fatigue syndrome. Results: The study included 365 volunteers (221 male and 144 female). The mean age was 33.1 +/- 7.2. Of the 365 participants, 218 (59.7%) had experienced low back pain in the last year. No statistically significant difference was detected in age, height, weight, level of education, smoking habits, occupation, professional working hours, shift work or levels of income between the groups with and without low back pain. Low back pain was more frequent (p<0.05) in male workers. Chronic fatigue syndrome was statistically significant in the group suffering from low back pain (p<0.05), of whom 21.5% had chronic fatigue syndrome. We detected a statistically significant relationship (p<0.05) between chronic fatigue syndrome, occupational duration and shift work. Conclusion: To the best of our knowledge, this is the first to show the relationship between low back pain and chronic fatigue syndrome in hospital employees. Shift work and length of time in occupation are risk factors for chronic fatigue syndrome.