MONDAY, April 17, 2023 (HealthDay News) — The prevalence of thoracic spine pain (TSP) is high among adolescents, and predictors include female sex, mental health problems, and duration of electronic device use, according to a study recently published in Healthcare.

Alberto De Vitta, Ph.D., from the Centro Universitário das Faculdades Integradas de Ourinhos in Brazil, and colleagues examined the incidence of TSP and ongoing TSP and identified its predictors among high school students in a longitudinal study.

The researchers found that the one-year prevalence (ongoing TSP) and one-year incidence (new TSP) was 38.4 and 10.1 percent, respectively, among the participants. For ongoing TSP, significant risk factors included female gender, age 15 to 18 years, clinical mental health problems, borderline mental health problems, sitting while using a tablet, distance of eye from cell phone screen of 20 cm or more, distance of eye from a personal computer screen of 30 cm or more, cell phone mobile use duration of three hours or more, tablet use time of three hours or more, and semi-lying prone while using a cell phone (risk ratios, 2.14, 1.41, 3.07, 2.02, 1.93, 1.69, 1.53, 1.60, 2.08, and 1.47, respectively); these factors were also significant predictors of TSP episodes. For new TSP, significant predictors included female sex, clinical mental health problems, borderline mental health problems, semi-lying prone while using a cell phone, semi-lying prone while using a tablet, and mobile phone use duration of three hours or more (risk ratios, 1.88, 4.26, 2.07, 1.71, 2.31, and 1.72, respectively).

“These variables are mostly modifiable risk factors and amenable to early intervention,” the authors write.

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