Tehran University of Medical Sciences Acta Medica Iranica 0044-6025 54 3 2016 04 05 211 217 EN Seyed Mohammad Seyedmehdi Chronic Respiratory Diseases Research Center, National Research Institute of Tuberculosis and Lung Diseases (NRITLD), Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Faezeh Dehghan Department of Occupational Medicine, School of Medicine, AJA University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Mostafa Ghaffari Brain and Spinal Cord Injury Research Center (BASIR), Neuroscience Institute, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. AND Department of Occupational Medicine, School of Medicine, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Mirsaeed Attarchi Department of Forensic Medicine, School of Medicine, Guilan University of Medical Sciences, Rasht, Iran. Bahareh Khansari Department of Occupational Medicine, School of Medicine, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Bijan Heidari Department of Orthopedic, School of Medicine, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan, Iran. Taraneh Yazdanparast Telemedicine Research Center, National Research Institute of Tuberculosis and Lung Diseases (NRITLD), Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Abbas Norouzi Javidan Brain and Spinal Cord Injury Research Center (BASIR), Neuroscience institute, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Seyed Hassan Emami Razavi Brain and Spinal Cord Injury Research Center (BASIR), Neuroscience Institute, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. 2016 04 05 2016 04 05 Recognizing patients at a higher risk of developing chronic low back pain (LBP) is important in industrial medicine. This study aimed to assess the power and quality of General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) for prediction of the odds of chronicity of acute LBP. This study was conducted on industrial workers. All subjects with acute LBP who met the inclusion criteria were enrolled. Demographic characteristics, occupational, physical, and mental parameters and the general health status of subjects were evaluated;  they were followed up for developing chronic LBP for one year. Cigarette smoking, high body mass index, job stress, physical load and high GHQ scores were found to be the risk factors for the progression of acute LBP to chronic LBP (P<0.05). Standing position while working, age, work experience, exercise, level of education, weekly work hours and shift work were not the risk factors for chronic LBP (P>0.05).High GHQ score can be a risk factor for progression of acute LBP to chronic LBP. The GHQ in combination with the Job Content Questionnaire can be used as a quick and simple screening tool for detection of subjects at high risk of chronic LBP when evaluating acute LBP in an occupational setting. https://acta.tums.ac.ir/index.php/acta/article/view/5554 https://acta.tums.ac.ir/index.php/acta/article/download/5554/4768