From occupational health personnel’s perspective, more information on symptoms and their risk factors is essential in order to better treat and prevent these problems. Firefighters would benefit from such information: They could learn what to expect in terms of symptoms, how pain may impact their work EPZ-6438 price and why interventions may be needed. Sleep problems are a potential risk factor in the development

of pain symptoms among firefighters. In addition to physically strenuous work, firefighters are also exposed to abnormally long work shifts (often 24-h). A recent study showed that firefighters’ sleep problems reduce physical well-being (Carey et al. 2011). Sleep problems have also been established as a risk factor for pain, especially back pain, among workers other than firefighters. In a study among blue- and white-collar Finnish workers, sleep disturbances independently doubled the risk of developing low back pain during a 1-year CP-868596 datasheet follow-up (Miranda et al. 2008). The aim of this

13-year follow-up study was to: 1. investigate the prevalence of radiating and local low back pain among Finnish firefighters at baseline and during the 3- and 13-year follow-up.   2. examine whether sleep disturbances at baseline predict the likelihood of GSI-IX mw belonging to a pain trajectory.   Methods Study design The data were based on a 3- and 13-year follow-up study of the health, and physical and mental BCKDHA capacity of Finnish professional

firefighters (Lusa et al. 2006; Punakallio et al. 2012). The study consisted of repeated extensive questionnaires as well as objective measurements of the health and physical capacity of firefighters. This paper is based on these self-administered questionnaires. The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the HUS Hospital District, and was performed according to the ethical principles of the Declaration of Helsinki. At baseline in 1996 (T0), 1 124 participants out of 3 512 professional operative male firefighters were selected from all over Finland by stratified sampling (Punakallio et al. 1999). The baseline sample was representative of Finnish firefighters. Outcomes Radiating and local low back pain Information on radiating and local low back pain both at baseline and follow-ups was elicited using a question based on a validated Nordic questionnaire that has high repeatability and sensitivity (Kuorinka et al. 1987). The question was: “Estimate for how many days altogether you have had radiating (or local) low back pain during the last 12 months.” The answers were classed into two categories: “0 = no pain” (pain on 0‒7 days or not at all), “1 = pain” (including pain on 8‒30 days, pain >30 days but not daily, or daily). Our study inquired about radiating and local low back pain separately, as have other previous studies (for example Miranda et al. 2002).