Prevalence and Pattern of Back Pain among Pregnant Women Attending Ante-Natal Clinics in Selected Health Care Facilities

Abstract

ack pain is (BP) is recognized as an important problem in pregnancy. The 
objectives of this study were to examine the prevalence and pattern of back pain 
(BP) in pregnancy. A survey of 2,187 pregnant women attending ante-natal 
clinics in selected Medical facilities in Ibadan and Ogbomoso, Nigeria was 
carried out using pre-tested close-ended questionnaire. Information on 
prevalence, pattern and characteristics of back pain in pregnancy were obtained. 
Data obtained was analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics of 
mean, standard deviation, and inferential statistics of independent t-tests and 
chi-square tests. One thousand and eight (52.5%) of the 1919 included subjects 
had back pain in pregnancy. The mean age of those with and without back pain 
was 26.8 ± 5.3 and 27.1 ± 5.4 years respectively. Mean number of pregnancy 
was higher in subjects with back pain than those without back pain. The pain site 
among the 1008 subjects with back pain was low back in 669 subjects (66.4%), 
posterior pelvic in 242 subjects (24.0%) and high back in 97 subjects (9.6%). 
Among the subjects with back pain, 315 (31.3%) and 53 (5.3%) were in their first 
and sixth pregnancies respectively. Postural modification relieved the back pain 
in about 50% of the subjects across the three back pain groups during 
pregnancy. It was concluded that back pain is a common and real complaint in 
pregnancy. It is therefore recommended that rather than dismiss it as trivial, 
back pain in pregnancy should be attended to as part of ante-natal care