Risk factors for low back pain and sciatica in elderly men-the MrOS Sweden study.

Introduction: The aim of this study was to identify whether factors beyond anatomical abnormalities are associated with low back pain (LBP) and LBP with sciatica (SCI) in older men. Material and Methods: Mister Osteoporosis Sweden includes 3,014 men aged 69­81 years. They answered questionnaires on lifestyle and whether they had experienced LBP and SCI during the preceding 12 months. About 3,007 men answered the back pain (BP) questions, 258 reported BP without specified region. We identified 1,388 with no BP, 1,361 with any LBP (regardless of SCI), 1,074 of those with LBP also indicated if they had experienced LBP (n = 615), LBP+SCI (n = 459). Results: About 49% of those with LBP and 54% of those with LBP+SCI rated their health as poor/very poor (P < 0.001). Men with any LBP to a greater extent than those without BP had poor self-estimated health, depressive symptoms, dizziness, fall tendency, serious comorbidity (diabetes, stroke, coronary heart disease, pulmonary disease and/or cancer) (all P < 0.001), foreign background, were smokers (all P < 0.01), had low physical activity and used walking aids (all P < 0.05). Men with LBP+SCI to a greater extent than those with LBP had lower education, lower self-estimated health, comorbidity, dizziness and used walking aids (all P < 0.001). Conclusions: In older men with LBP and SCI, anatomical abnormalities such as vertebral fractures, metastases, central or lateral spinal stenosis or degenerative conditions may only in part explain prevalent symptoms and disability. Social and lifestyle factors must also be evaluated since they are associated not only with unspecific LBP but also with LBP with SCI.

Inferior physical performance tests in 10,998 men in the MrOS study is associated with recurrent falls.

BACKGROUND: recurrent fallers are at especially high risk for injuries. OBJECTIVE: to study whether tests of physical performance are associated with recurrent falls. SUBJECTS: a total of 10,998 men aged 65 years or above. METHODS: questionnaires evaluated falls sustained 12 months preceding testing of grip strength, timed stand, 6-m walk and 20-cm narrow walk test. Means with 95% confidence interval (95% CI) are reported. P < 0.01 is a statistically significant difference. RESULTS: in comparison to both occasional fallers and non-fallers, recurrent fallers performed more poorly on all the physical ability tests (all P < 0.001). A score below -2 standard deviations (SDs) in the right-hand grip strength test was associated with an odds ratio of 2.4 (95% CI 1.7, 3.4) for having had recurrent falls compared with having had no fall and of 2.0 (95% CI 1.3, 3.4) for having had recurrent falls compared with having had an occasional fall. CONCLUSION: low performance in physical ability tests are in elderly men associated with recurrent falls.