Is a history of work-related low back injury associated with prevalent low back pain and depression in the general population?

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Little is known about the role of prior occupational low back injury in future episodes of low back pain and disability in the general population. We conducted a study to determine if a lifetime history of work-related low back injury is associated with prevalent severity-graded low back pain, depressive symptoms, or both, in the general population.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We used data from the Saskatchewan Health and Back Pain Survey – a population-based cross-sectional survey mailed to a random, stratified sample of 2,184 Saskatchewan adults 20 to 69 years of age in 1995. Information on the main independent variable was gathered by asking respondents whether they had ever injured their low back at work. Our outcomes, the 6-month period prevalence of severity-graded low back pain and depressive symptoms during the past week, were measured with valid and reliable questionnaires. The associations between prior work-related low back injury and our outcomes were estimated through multinomial and binary multivariable logistic regression with adjustment for age, gender, and other important covariates.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Fifty-five percent of the eligible population participated. Of the 1,086 participants who responded to the question about the main independent variable, 38.0% reported a history of work-related low back injury. A history of work-related low back injury was positively associated with low intensity/low disability low back pain (OR, 3.66; 95%CI, 2.48–5.42), with high intensity/low disability low back pain (OR, 4.03; 95%CI, 2.41–6.76), and with high disability low back pain (OR, 6.76; 95%CI, 3.80–12.01). No association was found between a history of work-related low back injury and depression (OR, 0.85; 95%CI, 0.55–1.30).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our analysis shows an association between past occupational low back injury and increasing severity of prevalent low back pain, but not depression. These results suggest that past work-related low back injury may be an important risk factor for future episodes of low back pain and disability in the general population.</p

Spirituality and giftedness type: A tale of adolescent variance

This chapter is an overview of the key discussions and findings from the author\u27s PhD thesis (Walton, 2015). Spirituality and its relation to giftedness are discussed, along with the theoretical framework for the research. The latter included applying the principles of Multiple Intelligences theory (MI) to the Differentiated Model of Giftedness and Talent (DMGT), creating the Differentiated Model of Multiple Intelligences (DMMI). An examination of the differences and commonalities in Australian gifted policies, with suggested categorisation, provided the background framing. Adolescents who were members of academic, creative and sporting gifted groups in schools in a large regional area of New South Wales (NSW) were surveyed on their views in relation to spirituality, along with a non-gifted control group. The key findings were: (1) significant variation in the spirituality of female gifted students, which were not reflected in the male responses; and (2) the Creative group scores were generally higher than the other groups, but this was not consistent across spirituality domains