Prevalence and associated factors with back pain among public servants in the federal education system in Brazil

Abstract

Backgroung: knowing and understanding aspects related to back pain can significantly improve the health and well-being of workers, reduce absenteeism, particularly among education public servants, and guide public policies. Objective: to assess the overall prevalence of back pain and identify associated factors with it among public servants in the Federal Network of Professional, Scientific, and Technological Education (FNPSTE) in Brazil. Methods: we conducted a cross-sectional study of 1,563 Brazilian public servants from all regions of Brazil. The data were collected in 2022. The independent variables included demographic, socioeconomic, behavioral, quality of life, and health data. The dependent variable was the occurrence of back pain in the past three months, as assessed using the BackPEI questionnaire. Poisson regression-adjusted multivariate analysis was performed. Results: the overall prevalence of back pain was 79.4%, affecting 79.1% of teaching staff and 82.6% of education technical-administrative public servants. Back pain was more prevalent in women (84.9%) and individuals who remained seated for long periods at the computer (83.7% - more than 6 hours per day). Women experienced more pain four or more times a week (p < 0.001), and this pain limited their ability to perform activities (p < 0.001). Additionally, women experienced a higher prevalence of moderate pain than did men (p < 0.001). The presence of pain was associated with reading or studying in bed (p = 0.002) and with poor quality of life in both the physical (p = 0.034) and psychological (p = 0.013) domains. Conclusion: the results indicate a high prevalence of back pain among FNPSTE public servants in Brazil, particularly in women, and an association between back pain, behavioral variables, and reduced quality of life.