Background: Women complain about back pain more often than men, giving rise to the question of whether gender-specific risk profiles could be identified.

Methods: Secondary data analysis was done of the telephone health survey conducted by the Robert Koch Institute in 2003 (n=7,829). Bivariate (χ2) and gender-stratified multivariate tests were conducted (odds ratio, 95 percent confidence intervals).

Results: Women (28.5 percent) complained about acute low back pain significantly more often than men did (18 percent; p<0.001). The multivariate analysis found gender-specific risk estimates for the following factors: age, degenerative diseases of the joints, osteoporosis, depression, smoking, employment, municipality size, and impairment of daily work because of physical impairment.

Conclusion: The present examination is an attempt to deduce factors to be taken into account for gender-specific care of patients with acute low back pain. Preventive measures and therapy approaches could be influenced by these findings. To adequately address the problem, future analyses should specifically include psychosocial factors.