Obesity is associated with more disability at presentation and after treatment in low back pain but not in neck pain: findings from the OIOC registry

Table 3 Results Cross-sectional Analysis for Disability (ODI or NDI)

	BMI category	Beta (95 % CI)	p-value
LBP^a	Lean (reference)	–	–
	Underweight	3.02 (−8.06; 14.10)	0.59
	Overweight	1.17 (−2.17; 4.52)	0.49
	Obesity class I	5.41 (0.75; 10.07)	0.02
	Obesity class II–III	7.58 (2.13; 13.03)	0.01
	Low education	11.20 (5.45; 16.94)	0.00
	Blue collar jobs	1.23 (−2.56; 5.01)	0.53
	Not working	3.06 (−0.62; 6.73)	0.10
	Work-related RF	7.82 (0.33; 15.32)	0.04
	High pain baseline	15.59 (12.86; 18.31)	0.00
	FABQ-W high	5.30 (−0.13; 10.73)	0.06
	FABQ-W N/A	4.98 (0.31; 9.66)	0.04
	Underweight x Low education	−11.99 (−36.47; 12.50)	0.33
	Overweight x Low education	−4.48 (−11.94; 2.99)	0.24
	Obesity class I x Low education	−6.12 (−14.48; 2.25)	0.15
	Obesity class II–II x Low education	−12.33 (−22.80;−1.87)	0.02
NP^b	Lean (reference)
	Underweight	4.57 (−1.70; 10.83)	0.15
	Overweight	−1.11 (−3.61; 1.40)	0.38
	Obesity class I	−0.32 (−3.90; 3.26)	0.86
	Obesity class II–III	−0.95 (−6.90; 5.00)	0.75
	Age	−0.04 (−0.13; 0.06)	0.43
	Male gender	−1.32 (−3.82; 1.19)	0.30
	No relationship	2.19 (−0.17; 4.55)	0.07
	Blue collar jobs	1.21 (−2.65; 5.07)	0.53
	Not working	2.21 (−0.78; 5.20)	0.14
	Work-related RF	3.37 (−1.12, 7.85)	0.14
	High baseline pain	5.84 (3.03; 8.66)	<0.001
	High FABQ-P	4.53 (2.07; 6.98)	<0.001
	High FABQ-W	3.45 (−0.26; 7.15)	0.07
	FABQ-W N/A	−1.23 (−5.35; 2.89)	0.55

Pre-defined confounders were: low education (high school or less), blue collar jobs includes crafts or trade worker, agricultural or elementary worker, high FABQ-W, FABQ-W N/A = not working, high pain (NRS > 6), age, gender, not in a relationship
High pain (NRS > 6), FABQ, fear avoidance questionnaire, fear avoidance work sub-scale (FABQ-W) high > 25; fear avoidance beliefs physical sub-scale (FABQ-P) high >15
Work related risk factor: working full time at alternate or limited duty job because of a medical condition; not working because of pain or ill health; looked but can’t find a job; not working because of the main complaint in a job-related injury; pending workers compensation case
^aConfounder included in the final model when they changed the effect between BMI and ODI/NDI by at least 10 %. Interactions with BMI were included if they were significantly different from zero (p < 0.05)
^bConfounder included in the final model when they changed the effect between BMI and ODI/NDI by at least 10 %. In NP no interactions of confounders with BMI were found

ISSN: 1471-2474