Background: Nonspecific rachialgic pains in adults are very common in the general population. Their frequency is undeniably high, compared to other diseases. It's this observation that encourages several authors to consider nonspecific rachialgic pain as one of the most important health problems in contemporary societies. In adolescents nonspecific rachialgic pains are considered rare and serious. A growth disorder such as scoliosis is to be sought in principle at this age because their aggravation risk is important at puberty. This is how several authors have specifically focused on sociodemographic characteristics that predict nonspecific rachialgic pains in adolescents schooled. To date, there is sorely lacking data related to this subject in Benin.

Purpose: To determine sociodemographic factors associated with nonspecific rachialgic pains in Beninese adolescents schooled.

Methods: Three hundred and thirty four (334) adolescents schooled (187 girls; mean age±SD: 16.96±0.18 years old) were recruited in Benin. Age range was 10 to 19 years. In medical consultation, identified mechanical pains sites were cervical and lumbar regions. Visual analogue scale (VAS) was used to measure the pain intensity. To identify the factors associated with nonspecific rachialgic pains, we collected socio-demographic data (sex, age, body mass index “BMI”, ethnic group, religion, college study years, away from home,transport mode, school bag type, appreciation of school bag weight, type of seat, cervical and lumbar region depth, Schöber flexion and extension test, sporting activities, tobacco, and alcohol consumption, adopted positon in class, class sitting time). Descriptive statistics of socio-demographic data were calculated and represented by means and standard deviations or in percentage. Multivariate linear regression was performed to determine factors associated with spine pain.

Results: We had observed presence of cervical pain in 65(19.46%) subjects, low back pain in 77(23.03%) subjects. VAS scores mean±SD was 0.88±1.09. BMI scores mean±SD was 21.54±3.17 Regression model (R= 0.41 / R² = 0.17 / Adjusted R² = 0.12, F variation p-value < 0.0001) showed that only the factors such as age (β = 0.22; p = 0.006) and appreciation of school bag weight (β = ─ 0.13; p = 0.016) were associated with nonspecific rachialgic pains.17% of variances of VAS scores are explained by all of these independent variables used in the model.

Conclusion: Age and school bag weight seem to influence the nonspecific rachialgic painsoccurrence in Beninese adolescents schooled. The more adolescent age increases and the more the bag school weight increases, the more nonspecific rachialgic pains are likely to occur.

Implications: This study will provide prevention advice to students, parents and teachers onbehaviors to adopt to avoid the nonspecific rachialgic pains occurrence in the middle school. Also, this preliminary study will serve as a basis for identifying the ideal school bag weight according to age and sex in adolescents schooled in future studies.

Ethics approval: The study received approval from Health Sciences Faculty, University of Abomey-Calavi in Benin. Subjects signified their agreement to participate by signing a consent form.

Keywords: nonspecific rachialgic pains, adolescents schooled.