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Table 1 Baseline characteristics

From: Association between low back pain and functional disability in the elderly people: a 4-year longitudinal study after the great East Japan earthquake

 

Low back pain

n (%)

absence

presence

P value

914

653

261

 

Sex

 Male

396 (43.3)

289 (44.3)

107 (41.0)

0.369

 Female

518 (56.7)

364 (55.7)

154 (59.0)

 

Age

  < 75

276 (30.2)

200 (30.6)

76 (29.1)

0.654

  ≥ 75

638 (69.8)

453 (69.4)

185 (70.9)

 

Body mass indexa

  ≥ 18.5, < 25

530 (58.0)

384 (58.8)

146 (55.9)

0.048

  < 18.5

27 (3.0)

24 (3.7)

3 (1.1)

 

  ≥ 25

308 (33.7)

207 (31.7)

101 (38.7)

 

Living area

 Ogatsu

396 (43.3)

279 (42.7)

117 (44.8)

0.508

 Oshika

301 (32.9)

221 (33.8)

80 (30.7)

 

 Ajishima

88 (9.6)

66 (10.1)

22 (8.4)

 

 Wakabayashi

129 (14.1)

87 (13.3)

42 (16.1)

 

Smoking habitsa

 Non-smoker

799 (87.4)

581 (89.0)

218 (83.5)

0.049

 Smoker

60 (6.6)

40 (6.1)

20 (7.7)

 

Drinking habitsa

 Non-drinker

581 (63.6)

408 (62.5)

173 (66.3)

0.088

  < 45.6 g of alcohol/dayb

164 (17.9)

130 (19.9)

34 (13.0)

 

  ≥ 45.6 g of alcohol/dayb

46 (5.0)

30 (4.6)

16 (6.1)

 

Comorbid conditions

 Hypertension

539 (59.0)

366 (56.0)

173 (66.3)

0.004

 Diabetes mellitus

119 (13.0)

81 (12.4)

38 (14.6)

0.382

 Myocardial infarction

104 (11.4)

61 (9.3)

43 (16.5)

0.002

 Cerebral stroke

28 (3.1)

18 (2.8)

10 (3.8)

0.394

Working statusa

    

 Unemployed

696 (76.1)

503 (77.0)

193 (73.9)

0.103

 Employed

179 (19.6)

128 (19.6)

51 (19.5)

 

Walking time/daya

  ≥ 1 h

201 (22.0)

154 (23.6)

47 (18.0)

0.013

 30 min to < 1 h

353 (38.6)

257 (39.4)

96 (36.8)

 

  < 30 m

333 (36.4)

219 (33.5)

114 (43.7)

 

Living statusa

 Same house as before the GEJE

299 (32.7)

222 (34.0)

77 (29.5)

0.375

 Prefabricated house

83 (9.1)

54 (8.3)

29 (11.1)

 

 New house

242 (26.5)

177 (27.1)

65 (24.9)

 

 Others

254 (27.8)

174 (26.6)

80 (30.7)

 

Economic conditiona

 Normal

503 (55.0)

374 (57.3)

129 (49.4)

0.003

 A little hard

195 (21.3)

140 (21.4)

55 (21.1)

 

 Hard

142 (15.5)

86 (13.2)

56 (21.5)

 

 Very hard

52 (5.7)

33 (5.1)

19 (7.3)

 

Psychological distressa

 Absence

774 (84.7)

573 (87.7)

201 (77.0)

<  0.001

 Presence

108 (11.8)

55 (8.4)

53 (20.3)

 

Sleep disturbancea

 Absence

605 (66.2)

483 (74.0)

122 (46.7)

<  0.001

 Presence

303 (33.2)

164 (25.1)

139 (53.3)

 

Social isolationa

 Absence

702 (76.8)

507 (77.6)

195 (74.7)

0.31

 Presence

209 (22.9)

143 (21.9)

66 (25.3)

 
  1. aBecause each item has a limited number of respondents, the actual number is not necessarily in accordance with the total
  2. b22.8 g of alcohol amount to 1 go or traditional unit of sake (180 ml), which also approximates to two glasses of wine (200 ml), or beer (500 ml) in terms of alcohol content. Categorical values are presented as numbers and percentage (%)
  3. GEJE Great East Japan Earthquake