Prevalence of low back pain and associated factors among young workers in traditional weaving of the informal sectors, Central and Southern Ethiopia

Abstract

A cross-sectional study was carried out to determine the prevalence and the factors associated with low back pain (LBP) among 814 young workers ranging from 14 to 17 years of age engaged in the informal sector of traditional weaving in Central and Southern Ethiopia. Standard modified data collection tools such as Nordic, Quick Exposure Check, Thermal comfort assessment question and Health and Safety Executives Management Standard questions for workrelated stress assessment were used. Data were entered in Epi-Info version 3.5 and exported to STATA version 12 for analysis and descriptive statistics; bivariate andmultivariate logistic regression analysis was used to identify the associated factors. The prevalence of LBP among young workers was 48.9%, and 14.0% of it responded to severe LBP. Working seat without backrest (adjusted odds ratio (AOR) = 2.6; 95%CI 1.5‒4.3), working 7 days in a week (AOR = 2.5; 95% CI 1.2‒5.0), workplace thermal level as warm (AOR = 1.7; 95% CI 1.1‒2.6), work at night (AOR = 1.7; 95% CI 1.1‒2.5) and awareness on workplace safety as a protective effect (AOR = 0.4; 95% CI 0.2‒0.8) were statistically significant with LBP at p < 0.05. LBP was highly prevalent among young workers in the informal sector of traditional weaving. Thus, intervention should be focused on work condition improvement, strengthening labor inspection service and enforcement of legal standards.