Keele Research Repository

Epidemiological studies have identified important causal and prognostic factors for back pain, but these frequently only identify a proportion of the variance, and new factors add little to these models. Recently, interest has increased in studying diseases over the life course, stimulated by the 1997 book by Kuh and Ben-Shlomo, a move accompanied by important conceptual and methodological developments. This has resulted in improvements in the understanding of other conditions like cardiovascular and respiratory disease. This paper aims to examine how conceptual frameworks from life course epidemiology could enhance back pain research.