Magnitude and pattern of spinal disorders among patients working in Indian Railways at a tertiary care hospital, Delhi: A prospective study

Abstract Background India has the largest network of railways across the globe. People working in the railways are exposed to various kinds of occupational hazards particularly related to the spine which have been rarely studied. Materials and Methods A prospective study, in a sample of 800 patients working in Indian Railways, was done in a tertiary care hospital to study the magnitude and pattern of spinal diseases. Both conservatively and operatively treated patients were evaluated pre- and postoperatively using Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) score and Oswestry Disability Index. Data were analyzed in SPSS version 12. Level of significance was kept at 5%. Results Male subjects doing heavy work and aged 51–60 years were most commonly affected by spinal disorders. Degenerative spinal diseases associated with back or neck pain with radiculopathy were the most common presentation followed by neck or back pain without radiculopathy. The VAS of patients treated either surgically or conservatively was the same. Male subjects doing heavy work were most prone to low backache (54.7%), and 71.5% had degenerative spine disease. Majority (97.8%) of the patients returned to work. Conclusion Occupation has a definitive role to play in prevalence of spinal diseases with heavy work being the commonest cause and degenerative disease the most prevalent.