Higher low back and neck pain in final year Swiss health professions’ students: worrying susceptibilities identified in a multi-centre comparison to the national population

BACKGROUND: Low back pain (LBP) and neck pain (NP) are of considerable socioeconomic burden. Considering the escalating demand on health services that LBP and NP have globally, they represent an arguably unsustainable drain on resources with the projected increased demand secondary to an ageing population. Identifying populations at risk for LBP and NP may inform public health prevention strategies. Health professions’ (HP) students may be more susceptible due to their demographic factors and potentially risky postural demands of their education and formative clinical practice. The aim of our study was to compare self-reported LBP and NP of HP students with the general and stratified Swiss population to identify their prevalence. In addition, we compared the prevalence of LBP and NP in students studying different professions in order to identify whether susceptibilities exist. METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, self-reported LBP and NP reported by final-year HP students (n = 1848) were compared with the Swiss national population aged ≥15 years living in private households (n = 21,597). Binary regression models estimated crude prevalence and prevalence adjusted for age, gender, and education. Design-based F-Tests assessed differences between students and the Swiss population. RESULTS: Crude, overall four-week (4w) prevalence (mean (95% CIs)) for LBP was 61.0% (58.4–63.5) in all HP students versus 40.0% (39.2–40.9) in the Swiss population. Female HP students aged 21–30 years (63.3% (60.5–66.1)) reported higher LBP than the same-aged Swiss female population with secondary (43.7% (39.5–47.9)) or tertiary (36.6% (30.8–42.9)) education. Crude, overall 4w prevalence for NP was 59.8% (57.2–62.3) in all HP students versus 36.4% (35.6–37.3) in the Swiss population. Female health professions’ students aged 21–30 years reported higher NP (63.2% (60.4–66.0)) than the same-aged Swiss female population with secondary (36.6% (32.7–40.8)) or tertiary (35.4% (29.6–41.8)) education. The inter-professional differences shown indicate midwifery to be most susceptible to reporting both conditions. CONCLUSIONS: Considerably higher LBP and NP were reported by final year HP students when compared with the general and stratified Swiss population. Worrying inter-professional susceptibilities were shown and reveal the need for further explanatory studies. Measures to reduce complex health problems like LBP and NP should be introduced into curricula in order to optimize the longevity of clinical careers and to protect the future HP workforce.