The NIOSH lifting equation and low-back pain, part 1: association with low-back pain in the Backworks prospective cohort study

Details

• Personal Author:
  Bhoyar P ; Bloswick D ; Boda S ; Deckow-Schaefer G ; Garg, Arun ; Hegmann KT ; Kapellusch JM ; Malloy EJ ; Merryweather A ; Moore, J. Steven ; Thiese, Matt
• Description:
  Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate relationships between the revised NIOSH lifting equation (RNLE) and risk of low-back pain (LBP). Background: The RNLE is commonly used to quantify job physical stressors to the low back from lifting and/or lowering of loads. There is no prospective study on the relationship between RNLE and LBP that includes accounting for relevant covariates. Method: A cohort of 258 incident-eligible workers from 30 diverse facilities was followed for up to 4.5 years. Job physical exposures were individually measured. Worker demographics, medical history, psychosocial factors, hobbies, and current LBP were obtained at baseline. The cohort was followed monthly to ascertain development of LBP and quarterly to determine changes in job physical exposure. The relationship between LBP and peak lifting index (PLI) and peak composite lifting index (PCLI) were tested in multivariate models using proportional hazards regression. Results: Point and lifetime prevalences of LBP at baseline were 7.1% and 75.1%, respectively. During follow-up, there were 123 incident LBP cases. Factors predicting development of LBP included job physical exposure (PLI and PCLI), history of LBP, psychosocial factors, and housework. In adjusted models, risk (hazard ratio [HR]) increased per-unit increase in PLI and PCLI (p = .05 and .02; maximum HR = 4.3 and 4.2, respectively). PLI suggested a continuous increase in risk with an increase in PLI, whereas the PCLI showed elevated, but somewhat reduced, risk at higher exposures. Conclusion: Job physical stressors are associated with increased risk of LBP. Data suggest that the PLI and PCLI are useful metrics for estimating exposure to job physical stressors. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Demography Men Musculoskeletal Diseases Musculoskeletal System Occupational Health Risk Assessment Risk Factors Safety Women Workload
• Keywords:
  Analytical-processes Author Keywords: Epidemiology Back-injuries Demographic-characteristics Ergonomics Etiology Exposure-levels Humans Job Analysis Musculoskeletal-system Musculoskeletal-system-disorders Occupational Cohort Physical-reactions Physical-stress Physiological-effects Physiological-factors Physiological-stress Physiology Risk-factors Risk Assessment Sociological-factors Statistical-analysis Work-capacity Workers

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• ISSN:
  0018-7208
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement ; Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  District of Columbia ; OSHA Region 3 ; OSHA Region 5 ; OSHA Region 6 ; OSHA Region 8 ; Texas ; Utah ; Wisconsin
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  6-28
• Volume:
  56
• Issue:
  1
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20042917
• Citation:
  Hum Factors 2014 Feb; 56(1):6-28
• Contact Point Address:
  Arun Garg, Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, P.O. Box 784, Milwaukee, WI 53201
• Email:
  arun@uwm.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2014
• Performing Organization:
  University of Wisconsin Milwaukee
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20030930
• Source Full Name:
  Human Factors
• End Date:
  20070929
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:944b91e33f098cba068768b5498a2e96381e1c66fbc4775f074fbedc4b87696b9aca0039d5b455db13f5e3e1d13ff97526091996933e6e31140bfea29bb2cbe7
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/194983/cdc_194983_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 784.49 KB ]