Lower back pain remains the most common cause of disability worldwide
Lower back pain is the most common cause of disability worldwide. In the coming decades, the number of cases of this condition is expected to increase, the incidence of disability associated with it, and the economic costs are expected to rise.Experts at the Global Burden of Disease Center 2021 Low Back Pain (GBD 2021 Low Back Pain) analyzed data on the prevalence of low back pain in 204 countries, as well as rates of related disability from 1990 to 2020. The study was published in The Lancet Rheumatology. Lower back pain was defined as pain between the 12th rib and gluteal folds lasting more than 24 hours.
Over the past 30 years, the prevalence of low back pain has increased globally by 60.5% among men and women of all ages to 619 million cases in 2020. By 2050, that number could rise to a projected 843 million.
As of 2020, the highest age-standardized prevalence is found in Central Europe (12,800 cases per 100,000 people), Western Europe (11,200 cases), Australia and Oceania (11,100), and the lowest in East Asia (5,430 cases per 100,000 people). In Russia, a high prevalence of low back pain is at the same level as in Central and Western Europe.
The number of years of healthy life lost due to low back pain was 69 million in 2020. Since 1990, this figure has decreased by 8.1%, but it is still the most common cause of disability in the world. The authors noted that occupational factors, smoking and overweight were responsible for 38.8% of the disability. In order to reduce the prevalence and economic burden of low back pain, special attention should be paid to combating these risk factors.