Comparison of musculoskeletal disorder health claims between construction floor layers and a general working population

Details

• Personal Author:
  Buchholz B ; Dale, Ann M. ; Evanoff B ; Olsen MA ; Ryan D ; Welch L
• Description:
  Objectives: Compare rates of medical insurance claims for musculoskeletal disorders (MSD) between workers in a construction trade and a general worker population to determine if higher physical exposures in construction lead to higher rates of claims on personal medical insurance. Methods: Health insurance claims between 2006 and 2010 from floor layers were frequency matched by age, gender, eligibility time and geographic location to claims from insured workers in general industry obtained from MarketScan. We extracted MSD claims and dates of service from six regions of the body: neck, low back, knee, lower extremity, shoulder and distal arm, and evaluated differences in claim rates. Results: Fifty-one per cent of floor layers (n=1475) experienced musculoskeletal claims compared with 39% of MarketScan members (p<0.001). Claim rates were higher for floor layers across all body regions with nearly double the rate ratios for the knee and neck regions (RR 2.10 and 2.07). The excess risk was greatest for the neck and low back regions; younger workers had disproportionately higher rates in the knee, neck, low back and distal arm. A larger proportion of floor layers (22%) filed MSD claims in more than one body region compared with general workers (10%; p<0.001). Conclusions: Floor layers have markedly higher rates of MSD claims compared with a general worker population, suggesting a shifting of medical costs for work-related MSD to personal health insurance. The occurrence of disorders in multiple body regions and among the youngest workers highlights the need for improved work methods and tools for construction workers. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Aging Construction Industry Demography Health Care Facilities Workforce And Services Men Musculoskeletal Diseases Musculoskeletal System Occupational Health Safety Women Workplace

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• Keywords:
  Age-groups Construction Construction-industry Construction-workers Demographic-characteristics Floors Humans Medical-services Medical-treatment Musculoskeletal-system Musculoskeletal-system-disorders Physical-reactions Physiological-effects Physiological-function Physiology Statistical-analysis Tools Work-environment Workers

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• ISSN:
  1351-0711
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Illinois ; Maryland ; Massachusetts ; Missouri ; OSHA Region 1 ; OSHA Region 3 ; OSHA Region 5 ; OSHA Region 7
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  15-20
• Volume:
  72
• Issue:
  1
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20045047
• Citation:
  Occup Environ Med 2015 Jan; 72(1):15-20
• Contact Point Address:
  Dr Ann Marie Dale, Division of General Medical Sciences, Washington University School of Medicine, 660 S. Euclid Avenue Campus Box 8005, Saint Louis, MO 63110
• Email:
  adale@dom.wustl.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2015
• NORA Priority Area:
  Construction
• Performing Organization:
  CPWR - The Center for Construction Research and Training, Silver Spring, Maryland
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20090901
• Source Full Name:
  Occupational and Environmental Medicine
• End Date:
  20240831
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:c563ad0c47c96fa692b3809f26de6a8affbed20f8cfe7eec2b196ab567e8ab14077ff74dbee5695b2b1b6d78492a27d529eea33bd34978fb4161af3e0385d09d
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/200589/cdc_200589_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 294.99 KB ]