Prevalência de dor lombar em enfermeiros de Unidade Básica de Saúde da cidade de Pelotas/RS

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: Describe the prevalence of low back pain (LBP) among primary health car nurses in the municipality of Pelotas, Brazil. The study also verified factors associated with the outcome. METHODS: a descriptive observational study carried out in the urban area of the municpality of Pelotas Brazil, with 89 primary health care nurses. Applied structured questionnaire with questions related to sociodemographic, occupational, nutritional, health and behavioral characteristics. The outcome - Back pain in the last year - was defined as pain or discomfort in the region between the last rib and the gluteal fold (Nordic Questionnaire for musculoskeletal disorders adapted). RESULTS: The prevalence of LBP in the last year was 65.2%. Prevalence of chronic and acute LBP was 22.4% and 53.4%, respectively. 43.1% sought a health professional to treat this pain and 74.1% used some medication to relieve the symptoms. Physical disability was reported by 8.6% of the respondents. There was an association of low back pain among those who presented minor psychiatric disorders in the crude analysis. After the adjusted analysis, the BMI variable showed a statistically significant association with the outcome (p = 0.045). CONCLUSION: The prevalence of low back pain in this population were high and were similar to those found in hospital settings. This finding demonstrates that despite different working conditions, UBS nursing professionals are also highly affected by this morbidity, reflecting negatively among nurses at all levels of care. Individual characteristics such as body mass, health perception and depressive symptoms were associated with the outcome studied.