Effort-Reward Imbalance and Incidence of Low Back and Neck Injuries in San Francisco Transit Operators

Details

• Personal Author:
  Krause N ; Rugulies R
• Description:
  OBJECTIVES: Effort-reward imbalance (ERI) has been associated with musculoskeletal disorders in cross-sectional and case-control studies, but no longitudinal studies have been published yet. The effect of ERI on the incidence of compensated low back and neck injuries was examined in a 7.5-year follow-up study among 1179 San Francisco transit operators. METHODS: Data from medical examination and a survey on working conditions and health were linked to administrative workers' compensation databases. HRs for first low back and first neck injury were calculated with multivariate Cox regression models. Additional analyses accounted for severity of injury based on medical diagnosis. RESULTS: A 1 SD increase in ERI was associated with compensated low back (HR 1.13, 95% CI 1.02 to 1.26) and neck injuries (HR 1.14, 95% CI 1.02 to 1.27) after adjusting for gender, age, height, weight, years of professional driving, weekly driving hours, vehicle type, ergonomic problems, pain at baseline and job strain. The highest quartile of ERI showed an HR of 1.32 (95% CI 0.94 to 1.86) for low back injuries and an HR of 1.66 (95% CI 1.16 to 2.38) for neck injuries after adjustment for all covariates. The associations between ERI and low back injury were stronger for more severe injuries (HR 1.23, 95% CI 1.03 to 1.46 for a 1 SD increase in ERI) than for less severe injuries (HR 1.11, 95% CI 0.96 to 1.28). For neck injuries, stronger relationships were found for less severe injuries (HR 1.15, 95% CI 1.02 to 1.29) than for more severe injuries (HR 1.10, 95% CI 0.86 to 1.41). CONCLUSIONS: ERI is associated with low back and neck injuries in San Francisco transit operators independently of individual worker characteristics, physical workload, ergonomic problems, baseline pain and job strain. Effect sizes differ by injury severity. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Demography Ergonomics Musculoskeletal Diseases Musculoskeletal System Occupational Health Safety Transportation Workplace
• Keywords:
  Back-injuries Demographic-characteristics Job-analysis Musculoskeletal-system Musculoskeletal-system-disorders Physical-stress Physiological-disorders Physiological-effects Physiological-factors Physiological-measurements Physiological-response Physiological-stress Posture Quantitative-analysis Statistical-analysis Transportation-industry Transportation-workers Work-environment Worker-health

  More +
• ISSN:
  1351-0711
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  California ; OSHA Region 9
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  65
• Issue:
  8
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20034589
• Citation:
  Occup Environ Med 2008 Aug; 65(8):525-533
• Contact Point Address:
  National Research Centre for the Working Environment, Lersø Parkallé 105, DK-2100 Copenhagen, Denmark
• Email:
  rer@nrcwe.dk
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2008
• Performing Organization:
  Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, San Francisco General Hospital, University of California - San Francisco, San Francisco, California
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  19990930
• Source Full Name:
  Occupational and Environmental Medicine
• End Date:
  20020929
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:fe0350a7274da499829568968368cb0dffef1b47b843188e86952b613d3a363d293d3f91afad541db27d3205ae15049e0babd5bb47646b5261048dcfc7c1f2f5
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/186743/cdc_186743_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 182.09 KB ]