Degree of obesity as a factor associated with pain in patients with lumbar degenerative disc disease at Hospital III Juliaca–EsSalud

Figueroa A.T.; Larico D.V.I.; Tipo D.J.L.; Gómez K.A.F.; Zela D.S.C.; Portilla N.L.C. · Horizonte Medico (2026) · DOI: 10.24265/horizmed.2026.v26n1.04

Resumen

Objective: To assess the association between degree of obesity and pain intensity and disability in patients with lumbar degenerative disc disease (DDD) treated at Hospital III Juliaca–EsSalud. Materials and methods: An analytical cross-sectional study was conducted in 345 consecutive patients with complete data on age, sex, body mass index (BMI), visual analog scale (VAS), and Oswestry Disability Index (ODI). The exposure variable was the degree of obesity according to the World Health Organization (WHO) classification. The outcomes were VAS and ODI, analyzed as both continuous and categorical variables. Descriptive statistics were performed. Pearson’s χ2 test, adjusted Cramér’s V with 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs), and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) for continuous VAS and ODI scores, with eta squared (η2) and 95% CIs, were used. The significance level was set at α = 0.05. Results: The mean age was 51.34 ± 13.47 years; mean BMI, 30.98 ± 2.55 kg/m2; mean VAS, 6.43 ± 1.44; and mean ODI, 20.76 ± 4.87. No missing data were recorded. The degree of obesity was associated with greater pain intensity (χ2 = 44.88, p < 0.001, V = 0.24, 95% CI 0.15–1.00) and greater disability (χ2 = 73.56, p < 0.001, V = 0.31, 95% CI 0.23–1.00). When analyzed as continuous variables, significant differences were found across the degrees of obesity for VAS (F(3, 341) = 16.67, p < 0.001, η2 = 0.13, 95% CI 0.07–1.00) and for ODI (F(3, 341) = 24.78, p < 0.001, η2 = 0.18, 95% CI 0.12–1.00). Conclusions: A higher degree of obesity was associated with greater pain intensity and higher levels of lumbar disability, with medium to large effect sizes in unadjusted analyses. These findings support integrating weight-control strategies into the standard management of lumbar DDD and encourage confirmatory studies using continuous modeling and improved control of confounding factors.

Instituciones: Universidad Nacional del Altiplano