Prevalence of Low Back Pain, Seeking Medical Care, and Lost Time Due to Low Back Pain Among Manual Material Handling Workers in the United States

Details

• Personal Author:
  Ferguson SA ; Hegmann KT ; Kapellusch JM ; Lu M-L ; Marras WS ; Merryweather A ; Thiese MS
• Description:
  BACKGROUND: Low back pain (LBP) is a common and costly problem throughout the United States. To achieve a greater understanding of the occupational risk factors, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) funded a low back health effects consortium, which performed several surveillance studies throughout the United States. This study combines data from the consortium research groups resulting in a data set with nearly 2000 workers in various regions of the country. The purpose of this paper is to examine prevalence and personal risk factors of low back health effects among these workers. METHODS: There were three common questions regarding history of low back health effects in the past 12 months including 1) have you had LBP lasting 7 days, 2) have you sought medical care for LBP, and 3) have you taken time off work due to LBP. The questionnaire included demographic questions. There were five data collections institutions or sites including NIOSH, Ohio State University, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Texas A&M University, and University of Utah. RESULTS: The 12-month period prevalence of low back pain lasting 7 days, seeking medical care, and lost time due to LBP were 25, 14 and 10%, respectively. There were no statistically significant differences in gender, age or weight between cases and non-cases for any prevalence measure. The height of workers was significantly greater in the cases compared to non-cases for all three prevalence definitions. There were significant differences among the sites on the prevalence of seeking medical care for LBP and lost time due to LBP. The Ohio State University had significantly higher prevalence rates for seeking medical care and lost time due to LBP than University of Wisconsin, University of Utah, or Texas A&M University. CONCLUSION: LBP, the least severe low back health effect studied, had the highest prevalence (25%) and lost time due to LBP, the most severe low back health effect studied, had the lowest prevalence (10%) among nearly 2000 US manual material handling workers. There was a significant site or regional influence in prevalence rates for seeking medical care and lost time due to LBP. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Delivery Of Health Care Environmental Exposure Musculoskeletal Diseases Musculoskeletal System Occupational Health Risk Assessment Risk Factors Safety Surveys And Questionnaires Workplace
• Keywords:
  Author Keywords: Lost Time Back Injuries Back Pain Exposure Levels Health Effects Low Back Pain Manual Lifting Manual Materials Handling Medical Care Medical Waste Prevalence Questionnaires Risk Factors Seeking Medical Care Work Environment Workers

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• ISSN:
  1471-2474
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Ohio ; OSHA Region 5 ; OSHA Region 8 ; Utah ; Wisconsin
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DART - Division of Applied Research and Technology
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  20
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20055958
• Citation:
  BMC Musculoskelet Disord 2019 May; 20:243
• Contact Point Address:
  Sue A. Ferguson, Spine Research Institute, The Ohio State University, 210 Baker Systems, 1971 Neil Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210, USA
• Email:
  ferguson.4@osu.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2019
• NORA Priority Area:
  Manufacturing
• Performing Organization:
  University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20150901
• Source Full Name:
  BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders
• End Date:
  20180831
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:f30f7343e1a3719d7b56b90ce41ad6386834fb917e1878f6116a54e3b5c07e5399c48b6875c87b2297c8372400dd0ae9da53da2219fed98a1cec5ab261884afc
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/213703/cdc_213703_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 916.59 KB ]