RISK OF BACK PROBLEMS ASSOCIATED WITH THE KIND OF MATTRESS.
Title.
Relation between back pain and kind of mattress.
Study of
cases and controls.
Background.
While there is a strong assumption among
the general public and even among the medical community that
the characteristics of rest surfaces (and particularly their
firmness) can influence in the emergence, intensity and /or
recurrence of pain associated with various kinds of mechanical
pathologies of the spine, currently there is no scientific
evidence supporting this assumption nor are there reliable
data showing what kind of rest surface is more appropriate
for healthy subjects or for patients. In fact, very few studies
had been made on the issue and their methodology prevented
the extraction of reliable conclusions.
However, while it wasn't known which specific characteristics
had a concrete effect, there were data that suggested that
the characteristics of the bed used did have an appreciable
influence. The Foundation itself had promoted the broadest
epidemiological study made on the frequency of back disorders
among adolescents and factors associated with a greater risk
of suffering them, both among the young people and their parents.
Its results had demonstrated that the factor associated with
a greater risk, both among adolescents and their parents,
was feeling discomfort in bed. This association was much stronger
than others such as having been diagnosed with scoliosis or
uneven leg lengths.
For this reason, it was thought necessary to study the influence
of certain specific characteristics about the bed surface
on back problems in greater depth, and in this case, to determine
which characteristics expose the general population to a greater
risk of suffering back problems.
Objectives.
To evaluate the possible relative risk that
the characteristics of the bed design could have in comparison
to the risk of back pain in the general public.
Methodology.
This was a study
of cases and controls, in which the study population
was made up of the subjects (parents and adolescents) who
participated in the study of prevalence and factors associated
with a greater risk of mechanical pathologies of the spine
in adolescents. The cases were defined as those who presented
back pain in bed or upon waking and the controls as those
who did not present pain in either instance.
Given that the frequency of pain is different
among mothers, fathers, sons and daughters, the sample was
divided into cases and controls ensuring identical distribution
by gender and age.
The researcher visited the subjects that made up the sample.
Those subjects with signs suggesting fibromyalgia, inflammatory
rheumatic illnesses or others that could make follow-up difficult
were excluded. Pain intensity (measured by the visual analog
scale), the existence of back pain during the day, data on
certain habits-such as the average number of days the subject
slept away from home during the week or the usual posture
during sleep-and the characteristics of the mattress, such
as firmness, size, etc. were gathered.
The statistical analysis, using linear regression models,
calculated the effect of different variables in different
strata establishing the relative risk that each one of them
represented in relation to the back pain.
Participants, along with the Foundation's
Science Department.
Research Unit and Rheumatologic Rehabilitation
Department of the Ramón y Cajal Hospital, Departments
of Neurosurgery of the Zarzuela Clinic and the Hospital Clínco
of Barcelona. Department of Morphological Sciences of the
Central University of Barcelona.
The study was co-funded by the Kovacs Foundation and Flex,
which provided the technical data on the mattresses (firmness,
wear of the material, etc.) from the collected information
(brand, model, year purchased, etc.).
Status.
At present, 1,004 anticipated subjects have
been recruited and data is being analyzed.
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