Disabling musculoskeletal pain in working populations: is it the job, the person, or the culture

Details

• Personal Author:
  Barrero LH ; Benavides FG ; Bitsios P ; Bonzini M ; Carugno M ; Cattrell A ; Chatzi L ; Coggon D ; Cox K ; Delclos G ; Derrett S ; Felknor, Sarah A. ; Felli VE ; Ferrario MM ; Freire R ; Gimeno D ; Gray A ; Habib RR ; Harari F ; Harari N ; Harari R ; Harcombe H ; Harris EC ; Hergison P ; Hoe VCW ; Kadir MM ; Kelsall HL ; Kogevinas M ; Martinez JM ; Marziale MH ; Matsudaira K ; McBride D ; Merisalu E ; Monroy MV ; Ntani G ; Nyantumbu B ; Oha K ; Palmer KT ; Peiris-John RJ ; Pesatori AC ; Quintana LA ; Rojas M ; Sadeghian A ; Sadeghian F ; Salazar Vega EJ ; Sarquis LM ; Sathiakumar N ; Serra C ; Sim, Malcolm R. ; Sirk T ; Solidaki E ; Urquhart DM ; Vargas-Prada S ; Warnakulasuriya SSP ; Wickremasinghe AR ; Yoshimura N
• Description:
  To compare the prevalence of disabling low back pain (DLBP) and disabling wrist/hand pain (DWHP) among groups of workers carrying out similar physical activities in different cultural environments, and to explore explanations for observed differences, we conducted a cross-sectional survey in 18 countries. Standardised questionnaires were used to ascertain pain that interfered with everyday activities and exposure to possible risk factors in 12,426 participants from 47 occupational groups (mostly nurses and office workers). Associations with risk factors were assessed by Poisson regression. The 1-month prevalence of DLBP in nurses varied from 9.6% to 42.6%, and that of DWHP in office workers from 2.2% to 31.6%. Rates of disabling pain at the 2 anatomical sites covaried (r = 0.76), but DLBP tended to be relatively more common in nurses and DWHP in office workers. Established risk factors such as occupational physical activities, psychosocial aspects of work, and tendency to somatise were confirmed, and associations were found also with adverse health beliefs and group awareness of people outside work with musculoskeletal pain. However, after allowance for these risk factors, an up-to 8-fold difference in prevalence remained. Systems of compensation for work-related illness and financial support for health-related incapacity for work appeared to have little influence on the occurrence of symptoms. Our findings indicate large international variation in the prevalence of disabling forearm and back pain among occupational groups carrying out similar tasks, which is only partially explained by the personal and socioeconomic risk factors that were analysed. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Coal Coal Mining Mining Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Author Keywords: Low Back Back-injuries Demographic-characteristics Exposure-levels Forearm Hand-injuries International Musculoskeletal-system Musculoskeletal-system-disorders Pain Physical-reactions Physical-stress Physiological-effects Physiological-factors Physiological-stress Physiology Psychosocial Questionnaires Repetitive-work Risk-factors Socioeconomic Sociological-factors Workers

  More +
• ISSN:
  0304-3959
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Alabama ; Georgia ; OSHA Region 4 ; OSHA Region 6 ; Texas
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  OD - Office of the Director
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  154
• Issue:
  6
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20042942
• Citation:
  Pain 2013 Jun; 154(6):856-863
• Contact Point Address:
  David Coggon, MRC Lifecourse Epidemiology Unit, Southampton General Hospital, Southampton SO16 6YD, UK
• Email:
  dnc@mrc.soton.ac.uk
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2013
• Performing Organization:
  University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20050701
• Source Full Name:
  Pain
• End Date:
  20250630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:28e4ce1e3a6b9d528632a05921d402d1c9efaff8a00dbcf101d60a0cf6c91f269d572708fcd8cfa2a34d36581621b017eb33cb065a5ae032caceab25d9347582
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/194998/cdc_194998_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 501.22 KB ]