Predictive risk factors for chronic low back pain in Parkinson’s disease

•The prevalence of low back pain in PD was detected to range between 59.6% and 74%.•The extent of additional contribution of PD-related symptoms and complications to this higher rate is not known.•Prevalence rates of chronic low back pain in the group with PD and the control group were 48.2% and 26.7%, respectively with a significant intergroup difference.•Independent risk factors associated with chronic low back pain were general factors including age and HADS – Depression subscore, and PD- related factors including rigidity and posture item scores. Although previous studies have reported that the prevalence of low back pain in Parkinson’s disease was over 50% and low back pain was often classified as chronic, risk factors of chronic low back pain have not been previously investigated. The aim of this study was to determine the predictive risk factors of chronic low back pain in Parkinson’s disease. One hundred and sixty-eight patients with Parkinson’s disease and 179 controls were consecutively included in the study. Demographic data of the two groups and disease characteristics of Parkinson’s disease patient group were recorded. Low back pain lasting for ≥3 months was evaluated as chronic. Firstly, the bivariate correlations were calculated between chronic low back pain and all possible risk factors. Then, a multivariate regression was used to evaluate the impact of the predictors of chronic low back pain. The frequency of chronic low back pain in Parkinson’s disease patients and controls were 48.2% and 26.7%, respectively (p