Factors associated with low back pain among cleaners in a tertiary hospital in Nigeria
Keywords:
Cleaners, low back pain, risk factors, prevalenceAbstract
Objective: To determine the magnitude and factors associated with low back pain (LBP) among hospital cleaners at the University College Hospital (U.C.H), Ibadan.
Method: This is a cross-sectional study conducted amongst all the cleaners working at U.C.H, Ibadan. The main outcome measurements were prevalence of LBP, socio-demographic characteristics and description of cleaning activities.
Results: One hundred and forty-nine hospital cleaners (136 females and 13 males) with a mean ± age of 34.7 ± 8.5 years were interviewed. The point prevalence of LBP was 77.2%. The respondents worked an average of 8.3 hours (4 -12 hours) each day. Cleaning activities were performed an average of 3 times each day (1 - 6 times). The prevalence of LBP was significantly associated with working more than 8 hours a day (p = 0.031), living above the poverty line (p = 0.021), completion of at least 9 years of formal education (p = 0.027) and not being in marriage (p = 0.003).
Conclusion: The high prevalence of LBP among hospital cleaners in our setting is worrisome and efforts should be made by physicians to detect the presence of modifiable factors associated with low back pain among hospital cleaners they encounter during clinical consultations.
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