Abdominal fat accumulation as a potential risk factor for low back pain in adult men

The purposes of this study were twofold: (a) to examine role of body mass index in incidence of low back pain and (b) to investigate more relevant causes of low back pain in body composition. Of the 250 initial subjects, 188 subjects were included for the first analysis and divided into quartiles based on the scores of Japan Low Back Pain Evaluation Questionnaire which was adopted to assess low back pain. We selected 51 subjects (body mass index: 27.4±5.0 kg/m2; age: 47.4±10.9 years) in 1st quartile as a control group and 45 subjects (body mass index: 27.1±2.8 kg/m2; age: 56.4±7.1 years) in 4th quartile as a low back pain group for the final analysis. Assessments of anthropometric characteristics and body composition (by whole-body dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry) were carried out and body composition was evaluated as absolute and relative values. No difference in body mass index between the two groups was detected and waist hip ratio and percentage of trunk fat mass per weight in low back pain group was significantly greater than those in the control group. While low back pain was significantly related to abdominal fat related variables including waist, waist hip ratio and percentage of trunk fat mass per weight, it was not linked to other variables such as weight and body mass index. Abdominal fat accumulation may be a potential risk factor for low back pain in adult men.