Daily smoking and lower back pain in adult Canadians: the Canadian Community Health Survey

Figures & data

Table 1 Epidemiologic characteristics of the study population

Characteristic	Number	Proportion* (%)
Low back pain status
LBP	15,372	19.6
No LBP	58,135	80.4
Smoking status
Daily smokers (current or former)	37,905	46.7
Occasional smokers (current or former)	13,160	18.9
Non-smokers	22,442	34.4
Sex
Male	35,242	51
Female	38,265	49
Age (yr)
20–29	15,582	23.6
30–39	18,812	23.6
40–49	19,221	29.5
50–59	19,892	23.33
Body mass index (BMI)
Non-obese	59,817	84
Obese	13,690	16
Education
Secondary education or less	21,359	16
Post-secondary education	52,148	84
Activity
Not active	46,525	64.2
Active	26,982	35.8

* Weighted to the Canadian population.

Table 2 Prevalence of low back pain associated with smoking, age, sex, BMI, educational level and activity status

	Daily smokers (present or former)			Occasional smokers (present or former)			Non-smokers
	No.	Cases	%*	No.	Cases	%*	No.	Cases	%*
Total	37,905	9,199	23.3	13,160	2,392	17.2	22,442	3,760	15.7
Sex
Male	19,108	4,653	23.8	6,511	1,144	16.2	9,634	1,507	14.7
Female	18,797	4,546	22.7	6,649	1,248	18.2	12,808	2,253	16.7
BMI
Non-obese	30,442	7,128	22.5	10,936	1,872	16.1	18,470	2,902	15
Obese	7,463	2,071	27.1	2,224	520	23.6	3,972	858	20.2
Age (yr)
20–29	6,826	1,296	18.1	3,087	342	11.8	5,673	624	10.4
30–39	8,323	1,766	20.9	3,789	612	15.9	6,697	1,046	15.2
40–49	10,838	2,793	25.3	3,240	698	19.7	5,145	991	18
50–59	11,918	3,344	26.4	3,044	740	22.5	4,927	1,099	21.2
Education
Secondary education or less	13,479	3,439	24.8	2,861	568	18	5,004	940	18.2
Post-secondary education	24,426	5,760	22.6	10,299	1,824	17	17,348	2,820	15.1
Activity
Not active	37,905	6,120	23.8	8,108	1,506	17.5	13,901	2,410	16.3
Active	13,382	3,079	22.5	5,052	886	16.6	8,541	1,350	14.8

* Weighted to the Canadian population.

Table 3 Unadjusted and adjusted ORs and 95% CIs for LBP in relation to smoking by sex and age

Age (yr)	Daily smokers (present or former)				Occasional smokers (present or former)
	Unadjusted		Adjusted*		Unadjusted		Adjusted*
	OR	95% CI	OR	95% CI	OR	95% CI	OR	95% CI
Men
20–29	1.86	1.59–2.18	1.87	1.62–2.17	1.01	0.8–1.24	1.07	0.88–1.3
30–39	1.5	1.34–1.7	1.46	1.29–1.66	0.98	0.83–1.14	0.91	0.77–1.07
40–49	1.58	1.4–1.8	1.69	1.52–1.89	1.13	0.97–1.32	1.17	1.01–1.36
50–59	1.53	1.3–1.75	1.57	1.38–1.79	1.39	1.13–1.59	1.29	1.07–1.54
Women
20–29	1.89	1.66–2.15	1.84	1.6–2.11	1	0.85–1.2	1.26	1.06–1.51
30–39	1.43	1.28–1.6	1.36	1.2–1.54	1.09	0.94–1.26	1.24	1.06–1.47
40–49	1.36	1.22–1.52	1.36	1.23–1.51	1.19	1.02–1.38	1.08	0.93–1.26
50–59	1.26	1.15–1.4	1.17	1.05–1.31	1.01	0.89–1.16	0.97	0.82–1.14

* Adjusted for BMI, education and activity status.