OBJECTIVES: to determine the prevalence of back pain in elementary school students in the Teutônia school district and examine the association of demographic, behavioral and hereditary factors. METHODS: a cross-section of 743 students was examined in the course of research. The data was collected from a questionnaire composed of questions about back pain over the preceding 3 months as well as demographic, behavioral and hereditary questions, which were then analyzed using multivariate analysis and prevalence ratio (PR) calculations. RESULTS: the prevalence of back pain was 54.1% (n = 402), 17.4% of which reported that the pain made it impossible to carry out common everyday activities. Female students (PR=1.08; p=0.002), students active in physical exercise (PR=1.11; p=0.006) and students whose parents reported back pain (PR=1.19; p=0.001) all had a higher prevalence of back pain. CONCLUSIONS: the findings indicate that the high prevalence of back pain in students can be linked to gender, the practice of physical exercise and heredity. This information can be used in planning posture education programs in the Teutônia public school system.
Back pain; Adolescent health; Epidemiology
