Connection between smoking and back pain - findings from an Icelandic general population study

The association between pain in general, back pain and smoking was studied in a sample of subjects from the general public (n = 862). The results show that smoking men had pain problems more frequently than women (p < 0.0001). In comparison with non-smokers, smokers were found to have back pains...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Lindal, E, Stefansson, J G
Other Authors: Department of Psychiatry, National University Hospital, Reykjavik, Iceland.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Scandinavian University Press 2010
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/2336/115585
Description
Summary:The association between pain in general, back pain and smoking was studied in a sample of subjects from the general public (n = 862). The results show that smoking men had pain problems more frequently than women (p < 0.0001). In comparison with non-smokers, smokers were found to have back pains more frequently (p < 0.01). Male smokers were also found to have a higher frequency of intervertebral disc problems than female smokers (p < 0.009). The frequency of disc problems encountered by the smoking subjects indicates a possible connection between smoking and back pain.