The Contextual Effect of Area-Level Unemployment Rate on Lower Back Pain: A Multilevel Analysis of Three Consecutive Surveys of 962,586 Workers in Japan

Takaaki Ikeda, Kemmyo Sugiyama, Jun Aida, Toru Tsuboya and Ken Osaka
Additional contact information
Takaaki Ikeda: Department of Health Policy Science, Graduate School of Medical Science, Yamagata University, Yamagata 990-9585, Japan
Kemmyo Sugiyama: Department of International and Community Oral Health, Tohoku University Graduate School of Dentistry, Sendai 980-8575, Japan
Jun Aida: Department of International and Community Oral Health, Tohoku University Graduate School of Dentistry, Sendai 980-8575, Japan
Toru Tsuboya: Department of International and Community Oral Health, Tohoku University Graduate School of Dentistry, Sendai 980-8575, Japan
Ken Osaka: Department of International and Community Oral Health, Tohoku University Graduate School of Dentistry, Sendai 980-8575, Japan

IJERPH, 2019, vol. 16, issue 20, 1-11

Abstract: This study examined the associations between area-level unemployment rates and lower back pain using large-scale data provided by the Japanese working population. We analyzed data from a nationally representative, repeated, cross-sectional study across three waves from 2010, 2013, and 2016 in 47 Japanese subnational level areas. Workers aged 18–64 years ( n = 962,586) were eligible to participate in the study. A multilevel logistic model was used to examine the association between the unemployment rate and lower back pain. The self-report of lower back pain was a dependent variable. The prefecture-level unemployment rate was analyzed as an independent variable, adjusted for individual-level covariates (e.g., gender, age, socioeconomic status). After adjusting for all covariates, the main effect of the prefecture-level unemployment rate was statistically significant: the odds ratio (OR) (95% credible interval (CrI)) was 1.01 (1.002, 1.03). Additionally, the OR (95% CrI) for the interaction between gender and the prefecture-level unemployment rate was 1.02 (1.01, 1.03) indicating that women were more affected by area-level employment status than men. In conclusion, a significant association between the unemployment rate and lower back pain was observed in the Japanese working population. Women were more sensitive to the unemployment rate.

Keywords: unemployment rate; socioeconomic status; education; occupation; Bayesian approach; E-value; spillover effect (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/20/4016/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/20/4016/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:16:y:2019:i:20:p:4016-:d:278474

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().