Millions across the world live with low back pain, but addressing major risk factors like smoking, obesity and workplace ergonomics could curb the trend, research shows
- Written by Jaimie Steinmetz, Lead Research Scientist in Population Health, Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, University of Washington
Worldwide, close to twice as many women as men report low back pain.RealPeopleGroup/E+ via Getty ImagesThe Research Brief is a short take about interesting academic work.
The big idea
Low back pain is the leading cause of disability in the world, with over 600 million people living with the condition. This is one of the key takeaways of our June...

