Remote work and back pain during the COVID-19 pandemic in adults and older population in South Brazil

Abstract

This article aims to investigate the as-sociation between remote work and Back Pain during the COVID-19 pandemic, and to analyze this relationship according to the body mass in-dex. Population-based, cross-sectional study carried in two cities in southern Brazil, in individuals aged 18 years and over. Data were collected through household interviews from October to January 2020/21. Outcomes: back pain (cervi-cal, thoracic, lumbar/acute, chronic) and pain intensity. Exposure variable: remote work. For the analyses, Poisson regression with robust ad-justment for variance was used, stratified by BMI (eutrophic vs overweight/obese), and restrict-ed to those who had worked in the past month. 1,016 had worked during the pandemic, average 42 years old (SD = 14), varying from 18 to 93 years. Remote work was performed by 7.7% of the individuals. Prevalence of back pain: 25.6% (95%CI: 19.5 to 31.7%). Overweight/obese remote workers felt pain acute cervical pain PR = 2.82 (95%CI: 1.15 to 6.92); chronic low back PR = 1.85 (95%CI: 1.04 to 3.29); acute thoracic PR = 1.81(95%CI: 3.76 to 8.68) compared to those who did not work. About one in four remote workers reported back pain during of the COVID-19 pan-demic. BMI proved to be an important moderator between outcomes and exposure variable.