The Robert Koch Institute interviewed more than 8,000 people in 2003 on social and demographic themes, as well as health and lifestyle. Monique Zimmermann-Stenzel and colleagues analyzed the questionnaire results and found smokers or former smokers suffer chronic back pain much more often than do non-smokers.

Subjects who had consumed tobacco for more than 16 years had a two-fold greater probability of suffering chronic back pain than subjects who had smoked for less than 10 years, Zimmermann-Stenzel said.

The probability of back pain was further multiplied for subjects who had smoked for longer than 26 years.

On the other hand, the frequency with which the subjects consumed tobacco and the quantities smoked did not play a role.

The authors pointed out that tobacco consumption does not necessarily cause chronic back pain. It is just as possible that people with chronic back pain smoke to alleviate the pain, they said.

The exact association between smoking and back pain will have to be clarified in appropriate studies, the study concluded.

The finding is published in the Deutsches Arzteblatt International.