Bone mineral density in patients with chronic backache.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the association of bone mass density with chronic backache. METHODS The case-control observational study was conducted at Bone Mass Density Assessment Unit, Liaquat University of Medical & Health Sciences Jamshoro from January 2011 to December 2013. Adult patients of either gender having chronic backache were studied alongside subjects without backache who served as the control group. Bone mass density of all patients was measured at the lumbar spine (L1-L4) and hip using a dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry scan. Association of chronic backache with age, gender, body mass index and bone mass density was assessed by performing multiple regression analysis. RESULTS Of the 482 subjects in the study, 162(33.6%) were cases and 320(66.3%) were the controls. Overall age range was 20-78 years with a mean of 48.5±12.36. The mean age of the controls was 38.87±13.55, while for the cases it was 36.26±9.41. Bone mass density in the cases was significantly low compared to the controls (p-0.028). CONCLUSIONS Severity of chronic backache could be predicted by low bone mass density.