A study published in the Annals of the Rheumatic Disease examines the burden of low back pain due to occupational exposure and ergonomic risk factors.
The researchers found:
• Low back pain from ergonomic exposure at work caused around 21.7 million disability-adjusted life years in 2010
• 62 percent of low back pain sufferers were males, with the largest age group being 35 to 55 years old
• Larges number of DALYs occurred in East and South Asia
• There was a 22 percent increase in overall low back pain DALYs arising from occupational exposure from 1990 to 2010 due to population growth — rates dropped 14 percent over the same period
Another study published earlier this year in the Annals of the Rheumatic Disease found the overall global prevalence of neck pain was 4.9 percent and DALYs increased from 23.9 million in 1990 to 33.6 million in 2010.
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