Low Back Pain Cases In Postmenopausal Women Doubled In 30 Years

Using 3 decades of world wellness data, researchers recovered that weight summation and metabolic health, not conscionable aging, are driving a crisp emergence successful backmost symptom among postmenopausal women, highlighting nan request for targeted prevention worldwide.

Study: Global, regional, and nationalist load of debased backmost symptom successful postmenopausal women from 1990 to 2021: a broad study utilizing information from nan Global Burden of Disease Study 2021. Image credit: amenic181/Shutterstock.com

In a caller study published successful Frontiers successful Endocrinology, researchers conducted a broad study to quantify nan load of debased backmost symptom (LBP) successful postmenopausal women. The study analyzed 3 decades of information from nan Global Burden of Disease (GBD) Study 2021 and recovered that nan absolute number of LBP cases successful women complete 55 astir doubled from 1990 to 2021.

The study further identified precocious assemblage wide scale (BMI) arsenic a starring modifiable consequence facet (~14.2%), contributing much to LBP-related disablement than occupational exposures and smoking. These findings uncover postmenopausal women arsenic a high-risk organization for LBP-related disablement and illness burden, highlighting nan request for enhanced monitoring and objective interventions to beforehand patient aging successful this globally increasing cohort.

Background

LBP is simply a starring origin of disablement and a awesome contributor to healthcare costs worldwide. Advances successful modern medicine person extended life expectancy, resulting successful a larger aged organization than ever before.

Recent grounds suggests that postmenopausal women are astatine peculiarly precocious LBP risk, attributed to a crisp diminution successful estrogen, which has been observed to accelerate awesome LBP contributors for illustration osteoporosis and intervertebral disc degeneration. These vulnerabilities are now known to beryllium further compounded by different consequence factors specified arsenic cardinal obesity, nonaccomplishment of musculus wide (sarcopenia), slumber disturbances, and psychological factors.

Surprisingly, however, LBP’s wide drivers stay poorly understood. Unravelling nan existent LBP load successful susceptible subpopulations (e.g., postmenopausal women) necessitates a detailed, large-scale study of these subpopulations. The early improvement of effective, targeted health- and aging-promoting interventions requires a concise knowing of nan circumstantial trends, location variations, and cardinal consequence factors successful these high-risk demographics.

About nan study

The coming study addresses these knowledge gaps and helps pass early nationalist wellness interventions by comprehensively analyzing debased backmost symptom successful postmenopausal women (“women aged 55 and older”). The study uses semipermanent information from nan Global Burden of Disease (GBD) Study 2021, which provides standardized epidemiological estimates for hundreds of diseases crossed 204 countries and territories from 1990 to 2021.

Study information of liking included incidence (new cases), prevalence (total cases), and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs; measurement of wide illness burden) for LBPs successful nan postmenopausal context. The study incorporated sociodemographic and location information modelled by nan GBD framework, alternatively than individual subordinate records.

Statistical analyses progressive nan computation of temporal trends utilizing age-standardized rates (thereby accounting for changes successful organization building complete time). The study focused connected nan contributions of 3 circumstantial awesome modifiable consequence factors: 1. precocious body-mass scale (BMI), 2. smoking, and 3. occupational aliases biology exposures, stratifying nan results by nan Sociodemographic Index (SDI) of different regions.

Study findings

The coming study establishes and verifies nan relation betwixt LBP incidence and postmenopause, revealing a melodramatic summation successful nan disease’s absolute load during nan past 3 decades. Specifically, from 1990 to 2021, nan yearly number of incident cases astir doubled from 35.2 cardinal to 70.3 million, and nan full number of prevalent cases roseate from 89.9 cardinal to 176.8 million.

LBP-associated disablement (DALYs) besides doubled, from 9.8 cardinal to 19.1 cardinal years, highlighting nan request for interventions to trim LBP incidence and outcomes.

Notably, contempt these excessive absolute figures, age-standardized rates only demonstrated a humble decline, indicating that erstwhile organization aging is accounted for, nan consequence for an individual female has somewhat decreased.

However, nan study identified that important gender disparity persists betwixt older men and women, findings that successful 2021, nan load of LBP successful postmenopausal women was substantially higher than successful age-matched men, pinch 1.78 times much caller cases and 1.86 times much prevalent cases recorded.

Risk facet study revealed that precocious BMI is nan starring modifiable driver of LBP-related disablement globally, accounting for 14.2% of each DALYs, followed by occupational and biology exposures (12.6%) and smoking (7.3%).

However, consequence factors demonstrated differential geographic importance, pinch precocious BMI representing nan ascendant driver of LBP outcomes successful high-income countries. At nan aforesaid time, occupational exposures were nan superior facet successful middle- and low-income regions.

Conclusions

The coming study verifies that LBP’s world load is higher than expected and continues growing, moreover arsenic age-standardized rates person modestly declined owed to demographic aging.

Study findings underscore nan urgent request for targeted interventions that reside nan cardinal modifiable consequence factors. In wealthier and developed nations, strategies must prioritize weight guidance and metabolic health. In processing regions undergoing industrialization, nan attraction should beryllium connected improving workplace ergonomics and occupational safety.

Smoking cessation remains a modifiable consequence facet that could amended LBP outcomes (in postmenopausal women) irrespective of geographic location. Healthcare systems whitethorn leverage these findings to tailor their interventions better, perchance improving early outcomes successful this susceptible population.

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