Comparison of Self-Reported and Expert-Observed Physical Activities at Work in a General Population

Details

• Personal Author:
  Layde PM ; Nordstrom DL ; Smith, Michael J. ; Vierkant RA
• Description:
  Concerns about exposure assessment quality have impeded research to identify risk factors for ergonomic disorders. We compared self-reported and expert-observed estimates of work-related physical factors for participants in a study of carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS). We analyzed data from 61 subjects, including 28 CTS cases and 33 controls randomly samples from a case-control study with 417 participants. For 11 posture and manual materials handling factors, the median difference in mean exposure between self-reported and expert-observed exposure at work was less than 1/2 hour a day. Measurements by the two methods in this study agreed more often than expected by chance (median kappa 0.31 in cases and 0.28 in controls). Kappa differed significantly by case-control status for two factors: bending at the waist (kappa 0.79 in cases versus 0.28 in controls, P = 0.01) and twisting of the forearm (kappa 0.45 in cases versus -0.02 in controls, P = 0.02). Although imperfect, exposure information collected from workers' self-reports is useful for many ergonomic epidemiology studies. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Case Reports Epidemiology Ergonomics Musculoskeletal Diseases Musculoskeletal System Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Protective Clothing Risk Assessment Risk Factors Safety Surveys And Questionnaires Workplace

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• Keywords:
  Author Keywords: Data Collection Carpal-tunnel-syndrome Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Case-studies Data-processing Hand-injuries Hand-protection Interviews Occupational-exposure Occupational Exposures Posture Questionnaires Reproducibility Of Results Risk-factors Statistical-analysis Task-performance Task Performance And Analysis Time Perception Work-environment

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• ISSN:
  0271-3586
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Massachusetts ; OSHA Region 1 ; OSHA Region 5 ; Wisconsin
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  29-35
• Volume:
  34
• Issue:
  1
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20024048
• Citation:
  Am J Ind Med 1998 Jul; 34(1):29-35
• Contact Point Address:
  David L. Nordstrom, The Arthritis Center, Boston University School of Medicine, 715 Albany St., A203, Boston, MA 02118
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1998
• Performing Organization:
  Marshfield Medical Research & Education Foundation
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  19910930
• Source Full Name:
  American Journal of Industrial Medicine
• End Date:
  20020929
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:6f37f392628f4109f439ca64ba1111308f6e7c9d3b922823de174749d7f0c077b6b5c7fa58aeb40888e3c6a7d5d921954c636c454c99fa39a0b64da936deb52e
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/196062/cdc_196062_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 82.78 KB ]