Disability pension from back pain among social security beneficiaries, Brazil

OBJECTIVE: To describe disability pension from back pain. METHODS: Descriptive study based on data from the Brazilian Social Security Beneficiary Database and the Social Security Statistics Annual Report in 2007. The incidence rate of disability pension from back pain was estimated according to gender and age by Brazilian states. There were also estimated working days lost due to back pain disability by occupation. RESULTS: Idiopathic back pain was the most common cause of disability among social security pension and accidental retirement. Most pensioners were living in urban areas and were commercial workers. The rate of disability pension from back pain in Brazil was 29.96 per 100,000 beneficiaries. A higher rate was seen among males and older individuals. Rondonia showed the highest rate, four times as high as expected (RR=4.05) followed by Bahia with a rate about twice as high as expected (RR=2.07). Commercial workers accounted for 96.9% of working days lost due to disability. CONCLUSIONS: Back pain was a major cause of disability in 2007 mostly among commercial workers showing great differences between the Brazilian states.