## 3 Results
### Prevalence of MSS and Its Association with Sociodemographic and Academic Features  
We detected discomfort in at least one body region in 76% (188/248) of the participants which were previously detected as with some level of dependence to mobile devices (Table 1). It is remarkable that a great majority of those who presented discomfort in any body region, particularly in the neck and back, were between 18 and 23 years of  
Figure 1: Flowchart of study participants. Prevalence of MSS was higher as the time of discomfort was shorter with values close to 50% for manifestations of \(\leq\)1 month, i.e., of an acute nature. Although MSS in the neck and back cause significant changes of the place for work, they did not prevent normal activities in the last 12 months and have not required significant treatment during the same  
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c} \hline \hline
**Variable** & **Neck** & **Shoulder** & **Back** & **Elbow** & **Wrist** \\  & **n (\%)** & **n (\%)** & **n (\%)** & **n (\%)** & **n (\%)** \\ \hline \multicolumn{6}{c}{How long have you had the discomfort?} \\ No time recorded & 1 (1) & 0 (0) & 2 (2) & 0 (0) & 2 (2) \\ \textless{1 month} & 73 (51) & 39 (45) & 62 (48) & 32 (47) & 56 (50) \\ 2–3 months & 32 (22) & 17 (20) & 27 (21) & 14 (21) & 22 (19) \\ 4–6 months & 19 (13) & 13 (15) & 19 (15) & 11 (16) & 16 (14) \\ 7–9 months & 4 (3) & 4 (5) & 3 (2) & 2 (3) & 2 (2) \\ 10–12 months & 15 (10) & 13 (15) & 15 (12) & 9 (13) & 15 (13) \\ \(X^{2}\) & 117.12 & 71.376 & 87.421 & 50.989 & 89.296 \\ \(P\) & \textless{0.001} & \textless{0.001} & \textless{0.001} & \textless{0.001} & \textless{0.001} \\ \hline \multicolumn{6}{c}{Have you had to change places because of the inconvenience?} \\ Yes & 107 (74) & 46 (53) & 94 (73) & 36 (53) & 76 (67) \\ No & 37 (26) & 40 (47) & 34 (27) & 32 (47) & 37 (33) \\ \(X^{2}\) & 132.14 & 115.191 & 141.916 & 126.353 & 131.844 \\ \(P\) & \textless{0.001} & \textless{0.001} & \textless{0.001} & \textless{0.001} & \textless{0.001} \\ \hline \multicolumn{6}{c}{Has the discomfort prevented you from performing normal activities during the last 12 months?} \\ Yes & 32 (22) & 16 (19) & 28 (22) & 7 (10) & 21 (19) \\ No & 112 (78) & 70 (81) & 100 (78) & 61 (90) & 92 (81) \\ \(X^{2}\) & 26.535 & 52.761 & 29.591 & 26.636 & 32.955 \\ \(P\) & \textless{0.001} & \textless{0.001} & \textless{0.001} & \textless{0.001} & \textless{0.001} \\ \hline \multicolumn{6}{c}{Have you received treatment for the discomfort in the last 12 months?} \\ Yes & 20 (14) & 11 (13) & 33 (26) & 4 (6) & 14 (12) \\ No & 124 (86) & 75 (87) & 95 (74) & 64 (94) & 99 (88) \\ \(X^{2}\) & 15.712 & 25.541 & 35.686 & 13.894 & 22.662 \\ \(P\) & \textless{0.001} & \textless{0.001} & \textless{0.001} & \textless{0.001} & \textless{0.001} \\ \hline \multicolumn{6}{c}{Have you had discomfort in the last 7 days?} \\ Yes & 85 (59) & 42 (49) & 62 (48) & 16 (24) & 46 (41) \\ No & 59 (41) & 44 (51) & 66 (52) & 52 (76) & 67 (59) \\ \(X^{2}\) & 93.40 & 95.539 & 74.066 & 53.225 & 74.566 \\ \(P\) & \textless{0.001} & \textless{0.001} & \textless{0.001} & \textless{0.001} & \textless{0.001} \\ \hline \multicolumn{6}{c}{What is the intensity of the discomfort?} \\ No discomfort & 2 (1) & 2 (2) & 4 (3) & 1 (1) & 4 (4) \\ Mild & 76 (53) & 51 (59) & 54 (42) & 55 (81) & 66 (58) \\ Moderate & 52 (36) & 20 (23) & 50 (39) & 10 (15) & 32 (28) \\ Strong & 12 (8) & 12 (14) & 17 (13) & 2 (3) & 9 (8) \\ Very strong & 2 (1) & 1 (1) & 3 (2) & 0 (0) & 2 (2) \\ \(X^{2}\) & 228.093 & 248.520 & 228.573 & 256.817 & 248.821 \\ \(P\) & \textless{0.001} & \textless{0.001} & \textless{0.001} & \textless{0.001} & \textless{0.001} \\ \hline \multicolumn{6}{c}{What do you attribute the discomfort to?}