PREVALENCE OF BACK PAIN AMONG OPERATION ROOM STAFF IN RIYADH CITY, SAUDI ARABIA

Abdulmhsen Yousf Alobidan, Khalid Ahmed Alghamdi, Abdullah Nasser Binghali, Muathmohammed Aldaham, Khaled Wade Alanazi and Saad Mohammed Altamimi. ...................................................................................................................... Manuscript Info Abstract ......................... ........................................................................ Manuscript History

This study aims to investigate the prevalence rate of back pain among the operation room staff in Riyadh city hospitals, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Study sample was composed of 157 randomly selected participants from Riyadh city hospitals. Results indicated that there is a high prevalence rate (66.9%) among operation room staff. Study instrument included the utilization of a predesigned questionnaire to explore participants' history and Attitudes of back pain. Moreover, findings have showed that back pain significantly affects the work life. Respondents had indicated that 'Rest' is the best back pain reliever compared to other suggested methods such as receiving a diagnosis and using treatment. Finally, study output had revealed that the prevalence rate is more dominant among male participants, and those who range in age between 25 to 35 years. Besides to the noticeable higher prevalence rate among married individuals. Study concluded that back pain has a clear impact on performing work duties and urgent response should be taken to limit further complications among operation room staff.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………….... Introduction:-
Pain is considered as an unpleasant emotional phase that the human could feel due to a specific problem in the body. In science, pain could be a defense mechanism to warn the human to perform further steps in order to avoid the development of more serious complications (Good and Brodwin, 1994 It has been observed that individuals suffering from back pain could develop several future complications, such as the physical, social and mental complications. The impact of physical complications may involve the decline in the physical functionality and general health deterioration. On the other hand, social complications may include significant decrease in the participation in the social events and activities. Furthermore, Individuals with back pain could suffer specific psychosocial complications, such as Insomnia, anxiety and depression (Van Tulderet al .,2006).

Objectives of the study:-
Current study aims to investigate the prevalence rate of back pain among operation room staff in Riyadh city hospitals, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Materials and methods:-
A cross sectional study was conducted on 157 health care workers in the operation room in Riyadh city hospitals, KSA. Subjects were identified using random sampling and data was collected using an online published questionnaire.
Data was coded and exported to Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS v 20.0 IBM Corporation) for statistical analysis.
Descriptive analysis was for socio-demographic variables and participants' responses. Finally, data was presented with explanatory statements, tables and graphs.
Study sample:-Current study sample was composed of 157 healthcare workers, working in the operation room in the hospitals of Riyadh city, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Data collection and processing:-
Collected data set was checked manually for its completeness, and then data was coded and exported to SPSS Study tool:-Researchers had developed a study instrument to investigate the prevalence of back pain among operation room staff in Riyadh city hospitals. The instrument included questions regarding the demographic data of the participants, In addition to a set of questions exploring the participants' history of the back pain and respondents' views of back pain impact.
Questionnaire items reliability was achieved by consulting three medical specialists. Then, questionnaire items consistency was checked by calculating Alpha Cronbach's coefficient (0.83), which indicated the validity of the study instrument to achieve the study objectives.
Ethical considerations:-1. Permissions to collect data had been obtained from the responsible authorities. 2. Confidentiality of the study participants' data and responses are maintained even after the study is performed. 3. Participants were notified that it is voluntary to participate, and that all study data will be used for research purposes.

Results and Discussion:-
Demographic characteristics of the study participants:-Study findings regarding participants' demographic characteristics had indicated that about two thirds of the study sample were ranging in age between 25 to 35 (65%) , while the next category was those who exceeded 35 years old , and constituted 33.1%. the least represented category was participants who were less than 25 years (1.9%) .
According to gender factor, it's clearly that there is dominance for males over females. Male participants had constituted 74.5% of the total study sample, while females were 25.5%.
Respondents were distributed according to the marital status, results showed that 61.8% of the participants were married, while 38.2% were singe.
Body Mass Index (BMI) results had revealed that there was a close representation of the normal and overweight categories. They had constituted 38.9% and 36.3%, respectively.
Obese participants' category was ranked thirdly by a percentage of 21%.while the lowest represented category was the underweight participants (3.8%).
Participants were distributed according to their work experience years. 46.5% of them responded as having one to five years of working experience, followed by participants who had more than 10 years of working experience which constituted 28%. Finally, those who's their experience years ranged from 6 to 10 years (25.5%).
Finally, study participants were distributed according to their specialty. Surgeons were the highest represented category and constituted 93.6%. Other categories were low represented category (See Table 1). Going more in depth, participants were surveyed regarding the occurrence of first back pain. Majority of the participants (77.1%) reported that the first back pain occurred after joining the operation room staff, while 22.9% reported that they had suffered from back pain before joining the operation room staff. Moreover, about two thirds of the study participants showed that they did not seek any medical care, while 17.8% had indicated that they could receive a diagnosis. Rest of the participants had reported that they used a treatment (15.9%) (See Table 2) When exploring the severity of the back pain among the study participants, it could be clear from the study findings that 55.4% had a mild back pain, while 31.8% had moderate back pain. Severe back pain was common among 12.1%, and very severe back pain was rare, 0.6% was having that (Figure 1 ) Respondents were investigated regarding the best back pain reliever. Findings showed that 'Rest' was the highly reported method to relieve the back pain (77.7%), followed by 'Physiotherapy' (10.8%). Medication and Herbs had been reported as well to be back pain relievers, but in a low representation, they got 5.1% and 0.6%, respectively.
Other relief methods had been reported by 5.7% of the respondents. These methods could include sport and practicing physical exercises, following specific dietary behaviors, or using water bath to reduce back pain (Table 3)  (3) show the prevalence rate of back pain among operation room staff in regard to the demographic characteristics.

Results shown in table
Findings indicated that 61% of the participants suffering from back pain are married, while single participants constituted 39% of the total study sample.
Results regarding the work experience years indicated that the highest prevalence rate of back pain was among those who ranged in experience between one to five years (48.6%), while the prevalence rate among participants having 6 to 10 years of experience was 27.6%, and those who exceeded 10 years of experience constituted 23.8% .
Investigation of age categories regarding suffering from back pain showed that 70.5% of the respondents suffering from back pain were ranging in age from 25 to 35 years (Figure 2 ), while 28.6% were older than 35 years. 1% of the respondents suffering from back pain were younger than 25 years.
There is a dominance of male participants in the participants suffering from back pain, they have constituted 70.5%, while females were 29.5%. Moreover, Normal weight and overweight participants had constituted 40.0% and 36.2% of the participants suffering from back pain, respectively.
Finally, the majority of the participants suffering from back pain was surgeons, and constituted 94.3%. Other specialties were 1.9% each. (See table 4)

Conclusion:-
Current study aimed to investigate the prevalence rate of back pain among operation room staff in Riyadh city hospitals, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Findings of the current study had indicated that there is equality in study sample views regarding the impact of back pain on the daily life activities, but there is a much more agreement among the study participants that back pain have an impact on work life. Furthermore, results showed that resting is the best back pain reliever as stated by the study participants.
The major finding of this study is that there was an overall prevalence rate of back pain among operation room staff equals to 66.9%. In details, study results regarding prevalence rate of back pain, considering the study participants demographic characteristics, showed that back pain is more prevalent in respondents ranging in age between 25 to 35 years old as well as among males more than females.
Moreover, the prevalence rate was higher in respondents having 1 to 5 years of working experience, and those classified within the normal weight category of the BMI measurements.
Finally, there is a significant dominance of surgeons in term of suffering from back pain, compared to other operation room staff members.