Röückenschmerzen in Hannover

Between October 1984 and November 1987 a total of 5033 German residents of the City of Hannover, aged 25 to74, have been postally screened for rheumatic complaints during a population based study of the "prevalence and care of rheumatoid arthritis in the City of Hannover". 85% responded. The point prevalence of back pain "today" was 33%. There were significant differences in prevalence depending on sex and age. Higher prevalence rates were found for females and for persons of between 45 and 65 years of age.

Back pain is mostly a chronic health problem, often combined with other rheumatic complaints. We found a strong association between the number of rheumatic complaints and certain forms of illness begaviour. Nevertheless, 61% of the most intensively afflicted subjects had not taken any analgesic or antirheumatic drug within the last 7 days, and 23% had not consulted a doctor within the last 12 months.

The results obtained allow conclusions with regard to age- and sex-specific prevalence rates of back pain in an urban population, to the occurrence of back pain in combination with other rheumatic complaints, and to aspects of illness behaviour of patients suffering from back pain.