Musculo skeletal pain in adolescents. Prevalence and associated factors

Objective: To determine the prevalence of musculoskeletal pain and associated factors in adolescents. Material and Methods: A cross sectional study was done. Thirty schools were randomly selected applying a cluster sampling, from Bucaramanga. Gender, age and anthropometric variables were measured; time in hours per week dedicated to some activities like sports, watching television, video-games, work and smoke, as well as restriction in daily life by pain also were established. The outcome was pain at the day of the survey. Log-binomial regression models were applied to obtain the relative risk (RP) and 95 % confidence intervals (95 % CI) adjusting by the cluster sampling. Results: In total 468 students participated in the study, 246 (52.6 %) female gender, and mean age 13.8 ± 1.8 years old. Prevalence of pain at the day of the survey was 54 % (47.1- 61.0). Associated factors were female gender RP 1.32 (1.1- 1.6), smoke RP 1.33 (1.1- 1.6), work RP 1.41 (1.2- 1.7) and pain in the month previous 1.38 (1.1- 1.7). Conclusion: The prevalence of musculoskeletal pain in adolescents found in this study is major compared with other publications. Is important to propose and evaluate interventions in the scholar setting, in order to promote healthy styles of life to prevent musculoskeletal and painful disorders that also contribute to increase the quality of life in the adolescents.