European Journal of Cardiovascular Medicine

Introduction: Most epidemiological data concerning low back pain (LBP) are related to developed and industrialized countries but little information about LBP in the general population in developing and low-income countries. Back pain affects 60-80% of people at some time in their lives. Acute low back pain is one of the most common reasons for adults to see a family physician. Although most patients recover quickly with minimal treatment, proper evaluation is imperative to identify rare case of serious underlying pathology. Aim of the study: The aim of the study is to evaluate the different causes of low back pain, occupational and risk factors, association with age and sex of the patient and their life styles. Materials and Methods: The present study is a retrospective study of 300 patients of low back pain between the age group of 31-70 years of both sexes who were admitted and treated at Dept. of Forensic Medicine, Kushtia Medical College Hospital, Kushtia, Bangladesh from January 2020 to December 2020. The information was collected from the patients regarding their occupation, education, obesity, smoking, tuberculosis, diabetes, alcohol consumption, osteoporosis, Osteoarthritis and history of trauma. The provisional diagnosis of cases was done and confirmed radiologically. A proforma was prepared and the patient’s age, sex, duration of symptoms, place of living and the cause for low back pain was noted. A neurological examination of the lower limbs was performed. Results: The author tabulated 300 patients of low back pain into four categories according to age and noted the number of cases in each group. The highest number of cases (124) is observed in the age group of 31-40 years (41%) and the lowest number of cases (45) is observed in the age group of 51-60 years (15%). All patients were thoroughly interrogated (occupational, trauma, infection, diabetes mellitus, smoking, alcohol and medication history), subjected to a rigorous clinical examination and a battery of investigations. In 300 cases of LBP studied, the most common cause for back pain was disc prolapse (44%). The next common causes were lumbar spondylosis, spondylolisthesis and lumbar spinal stenosis (17%, 10% & 10% respectively).The study found association between low back pain and various factors. Prevention is the best strategy for avoiding low back pain but is realistically hard to practice because the problem of low back pain has many environmental and intrinsic risk factors. Conclusion: Low back pain affects a large proportion of the population and is difficult to diagnose. Physicians must accept the diagnostic ambiguity that often accompanies the condition. Identification of etiological and risk factors, cause for back pain and type of occupation and instituting preventive measures, as well as rehabilitation of patients can lead to a meaningful reduction in the incidence of debilitating back pain.