Background Low back pain (LBP) and chronic LBP are one of the most frequent medical conditions in the population.

Objectives The present population-based epidemiological study aimed to determine the frequency of LBP and CLBP and associated factors.

Methods In 2013, a cohort for chronic diseases was initiated by the Turkish Society of Internal Medicine. CLBP was defined as a LBP lasting for longer than3 months. Demographic characteristics and habits of the participants, self-reported joint swelling, and presence of recurrent aphthous stomatitis were questioned.

Results Data of 11,049 participants (mean age, 44.6±16.4 years; 56.1% males) were evaluated. Of the participants, 44.3% had LBP, 22.7% had CLBP, 19.8% had self-reported joint swelling, and 13.2% had oral aphthous lesions. In multivariate analysis, CLBP was positively associated with female gender, advanced age, low education level, oral aphthous lesion, self-reported joint swelling, smoking, and high body mass index, whereas a negative correlation was determined with alcohol consumption (Table 1).

Conclusions In the present study, the frequency of LBP and CLBP were about 44% and 23%, respectively. In addition to previously reported classical risk factors, recurrent aphthous lesions were associated with both LBP and CLBP.

Financial Interests The present study was unconditionally funded by the Turkish Society of Internal Medicine, which provided financial support for data collection and analysis and manuscript preparation. The Turkish Society of Internal Medicine had no contribution to the study design and interpretation of the results. The authors declare no conflict of interests.

Disclosure of Interest None declared