The Burden Of Chronic Low Back Pain In The Yaounde Central Hospital, Cameroon

Abstract

Introduction: Chronic Low Back Pain (CLBP) is one of the leading causes of morbidity and disability. Low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) seem to be the most affected since CLBP is one of the main complaints in specialist consultation. However, the exact burden of this disease is sparingly known in our setting. Thus, our main objective was to evaluate the burden of chronic low back pain in the Yaoundé Central Hospital. Methods: We carried out an analytic cross-sectional study for 3 months that is from March 2022 to May 2022. The necessary authorisations were obtained from the institutional ethics board of the Catholic University of Cameroon and the director of the Yaoundé Central Hospital.  Demographics, clinical characteristics and associated factors were collected from patients presenting at the external consultation of the neurological and the neurosurgical units using questionnaires. Disability was assessed using the modified Roland Morris Disability Questionnaire and the Oswestry Disability Index. Data analysis was done using the International Business Machines Statistical Package for Social Sciences (IBM-SPSS) VERSION 23.0. Results: 115 patients were included in our study aged from 19 to 80 years. The majority of our patients were females (76.5%) , self-employed (45.2%), earning <160 USD/month (69.6%) and had a secondary level of education (40.9%). 79,1% were disabled with 40% of the study population classified as severely disabled. The median value for psychological wellbeing was 56(±17.3SD)% with 53% of patients classified under “Poor psychological health”. Low educational level, combination therapy, longer work absence, higher pain intensity and BMI were associated with greater levels of disability. However, alcohol consumption and improved psychological well-being were associated with less disability. Conclusion: Chronic low back pain affected more women than men and associated disability was highly prevalent with most patients suffering from severe disability. The factors which were independently associated with disability were level of education, treatment modality, pain intensity, BMI, and number of sick days leave.