The following factors were found to have consistent , but limited , support as regards their influence on the risk for sick leave due to back and neck disorders : ( a ) heavy physical workload , bent or twisted working position , and low work satisfaction increases the risk for short-term and long-term sick leave ; ( b ) specific back diagnoses and previous sick leave due to back disorders increases the risk for short-term and long-term sick leave ; ( c ) female gender , smoking , exposure to vibration , and deficient social support were not found to significantly increase the risk for short-term and long-term sick leave ; ( d ) self-reported pain and functional impairments were associated with a high risk for long-term sick leave ; ( e ) longer employment periods reduced the risk for short-term sick leave ; ( f ) perceived dem and s at work did not influence short-term sick leave ; ( g ) female gender and higher age increases the risk for disability pension
Incidence of musculoskeletal disorders among newly employed manufacturing workers.
OBJECTIVES The incidence of upper-limb , neck-shoulder , and low-back disorders and their induction times were investigated among new workers in tasks with various physical workloads . METHODS New trailer assemblers ( N=364 ) were followed prospect ively for 45 months -- the workers ' health status via medical records and exposure to physical workload factors via job titles , walk-throughs , task descriptions , and some direct measurements . The incidence rate of first sick leave due to such disorders was calculated for different workload groups . The proportion of workers surviving without musculoskeletal disorders was estimated by the Kaplan-Maier product-limit estimator , and the effect of the exposure on the risk of incident disorders was estimated with the Cox proportional hazards model . RESULTS The highest annual incidences were observed for strenuous tasks , the incidence rate for men being 16.8 per 100 person-years [ 95 % confidence interval ( 95 % CI ) 8.0 - 30.9 ] for upper-limb disorders in strenuous tasks and 6.1 ( 95 % CI 2.0 - 14.1 ) in nonstrenuous tasks and that for women being 32.0 ( 95 % CI 11.7 - 69.7 ) and 9.9 ( 95 % CI 0.2 - 54.9 ) , respectively . The men 's risk of contracting an upper-limb or neck-shoulder disorder in strenuous tasks was about threefold [ hazard ratio ( HR ) 3.2 ( 95 % CI 1.1 - 9.4 ) for upper-limb disorders and 2.7 ( 95 % CI 0.9 - 8.1 ) for neck-shoulder disorders ] that of nonstrenuous tasks , whereas workload seemed not to affect low-back disorders . The workers first sought medical advice for their disorders typically some months after employment began . CONCLUSIONS Newly employed workers in h and -intensive tasks have a high risk of upper-limb and neck-shoulder disorders . An etiologic role for activities involving high force dem and s in upper-limb and neck-shoulder disorders is possible
The following factors were found to have consistent , but limited , support as regards their influence on the risk for sick leave due to back and neck disorders : ( a ) heavy physical workload , bent or twisted working position , and low work satisfaction increases the risk for short-term and long-term sick leave ; ( b ) specific back diagnoses and previous sick leave due to back disorders increases the risk for short-term and long-term sick leave ; ( c ) female gender , smoking , exposure to vibration , and deficient social support were not found to significantly increase the risk for short-term and long-term sick leave ; ( d ) self-reported pain and functional impairments were associated with a high risk for long-term sick leave ; ( e ) longer employment periods reduced the risk for short-term sick leave ; ( f ) perceived dem and s at work did not influence short-term sick leave ; ( g ) female gender and higher age increases the risk for disability pension