Work-related risk factors for rotator cuff syndrome in a prospective study of manufacturing and healthcare workers

Details

• Alternative Title:
  Hum Factors
• Personal Author:
  Meyers, Alysha R. ; Wurzelbacher, Steven J. ; Krieg, Edward F. ; Ramsey, Jessica G. ; Crombie, Kenneth ; Christianson, Annette L. ; Luo, Lian ; Burt, Susan
• Description:
  Objective ; This prospective study assessed the risk of developing rotator cuff syndrome (RCS) with separate or specific combinations of biomechanical exposures measures, controlling for individual confounders. ; Background ; Compared to other musculoskeletal disorders, rates of work-related shoulder musculoskeletal disorders have been declining more slowly. ; Method ; We conducted up to two years of individual, annual assessments of covariates, exposures, and health outcomes for 393 U.S. manufacturing and healthcare workers without RCS at baseline. Task-level biomechanical exposures assessed exposure to forceful exertions (level, exertion rates, duty cycles), vibration, and upper arm postures (flexion, abduction). Hazard ratios (HR) were calculated with Cox proportional hazard models. ; Results ; We observed 39 incident RCS cases in 694 person-years (incidence rate = 5.62 per 100 person-years). Adjusting for confounders, we found increased risk of incident RCS associated with forceful hand exertions per minute for three upper arm posture tertiles: flexion ≥ 45° (≥ 28.2%-time, HR = 1.11, CI 1.01, 1.22), abduction ≥ 30° (11.9-21.2%-time, HR = 1.18, CI 1.04, 1.34), and abduction > 60° (≥ 4.8%-time, HR = 1.16, CI 1.04, 1.29). We failed to observe statistically significant effects for other interactions or any separate measures of biomechanical exposure. ; Conclusion ; This study highlights the importance of assessing combinations of exposure to forceful repetition and upper arm elevation when developing interventions for preventing RCS. ; Application ; Based on these results, interventions that reduce exposure to forceful repetition (i.e., lower force levels and/or slower exertion rates) may reduce the risk of RCS, especially when upper arm elevation cannot be avoided.
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• Subjects:
  • Health Personnel
  • Humans
  • Musculoskeletal Diseases
  • Occupational Diseases
  • Prospective Studies
  • Risk Factors
  • Rotator Cuff
• Keywords:
  • shoulder pain
  • ergonomics
  • occupational diseases
  • musculoskeletal diseases
  • rotator cuff tendinopathy
  • rotator cuff syndrome
  • work-related factors
  • posture
  • repetition
  • incidence
• Source:
  Hum Factors. 65(3):419-434
• Pubmed ID:
  34148475
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC8685298
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  CC999999/ImCDC/Intramural CDC HHSUnited States/
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Volume:
  65
• Issue:
  3
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/112808/cdc_112808_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 482.16 KB]
• Collection(s):
  CDC Public Access
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:b4ff54b912c789a2716831a3a4e70a89da3a47da3451ef17e7f8e2b775c4ae3739b80d984045d79964a7101614df2e67bd9ed5de01c3f2f672a72040a91706b2