Mental disorder assessed by General Health Questionnaire and back pain among postmenopausal Iranian women

The aim of this study was to investigate the association between mental disorder and back pain among postmenopausal Iranian women. Three thousand six hundred and fifty five postmenopausal women were interviewed in the second National Health Survey (2nd NHS) in the year 2000, in Iran. Of whom, 2953 women were included in this study. Back pain (BKP) was considered as dependent variable and mental disorder as independent variable. Factors like age, Body Mass Index (BMI), residential area, employment, literacy, smoking habit, marital status and spinal fractures were considered as confounders. Logistic regression models have been applied for data analysis. The BKP prevalence was 40.1% and the prevalence of mental disorder was 44.3%. After adjustment for confounders, mental disorder was positively associated with BKP, OR (CI): 1.615 (1.36, 1.91). This study confirmed that BKP and mental disorder are common problems and these two factors are associated amongst postmenopausal women. Further longitudinal studies are recommended to specify casual inferences.