Low back pain does not predict unemployment in a U.S. refugee population: A retrospective cohort study

BACKGROUND: Unemployment can limit host-community integration for refugees. Poor health is a leading cause of unemployment among refugees in the U.S. This study assesses whether low back pain (LBP) is predictive of unemployment among a group of refugees in the U.S. METHODS: Electronic medical record data were collected for a total of 3,183 refugee patients. General patient characteristics (sex, age, home country, need for English interpretation, tobacco use, and illicit drug use), employment status, and mental illness and LBP diagnoses were studied. Descriptive and logistic regression analyses were used to explore relationships between LBP and unemployment. RESULTS: Of the 12 home countries considered, seven were represented by >40 patients: Somalia (n=1696), Sudan/South Sudan (n=460), Bosnia and Herzegovina (n=280), Iraq (n=266), Ethiopia (n=261), Ukraine (n=72), and Syria (n=60). Nearly a quarter of Iraqi patients suffered from LBP as did approximately 15% of Somali, Syrian, Ethiopian, and Sudanese patients. Nearly half of Iraqi patients were unemployed, as were greater than 30% of Somali, Sudanese, Ukrainian, and Ethiopian patients. A statistically significantly higher percentage of unemployed patients suffered from LBP (17.9%) than employed patients (13.6%) (p=0.003). However, on regression analysis, LBP was not predictive of unemployment (OR: 1.12, p=0.336). Instead, predictive variables included: a patient-reported need for an English interpreter (OR: 3.35, p<.001), female sex (OR: 1.49, p<.001), mental illness (OR: 1.82, p<.001), and illicit drug use (OR: 1.92, p=0.032). CONCLUSIONS: Contrary to findings from multiple studies implicating LBP as a leading cause of unemployment in high-income countries, a diagnosis of LBP does not predict unemployment for this group of refugees in the U.S. This finding illuminates a novel dimension of the healthy immigrant effect and indicates a divergent perception of the relationship between LBP and work in the refugee population as compared to non-refugee populations studied in North America and Europe. Further investigation of refugees’ perceptions of LBP in relation to work is indicated.