Prevalence of Musculoskeletal Disorders and Self-Reported Pain in Artisanal Fishermen from a Traditional Community in Todos-os-Santos Bay, Bahia, Brazil.

Juliana Dos Santos Müller,Rita Franco Rego,Eduardo Mendes Da Silva

doi:10.3390/ijerph19020908

Abstract

Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) can be characterized from their occupational etiology and their occurrence; their chronicity generates negative repercussions for the health of workers, especially of artisanal fishing. To investigate the prevalence of generalized musculoskeletal disorders by body region and self-reported pain in a fishing population of northeastern Brazil, an epidemiological cross-sectional study was carried out in Santiago do Iguape, Bahia-Brazil, in 2017. The Brazilian version of the Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire (NMQ), in addition to a questionnaire containing the socio-demographic and labor conditions were applied to a random stratified sample of 248 artisanal fisheries. There were 170 female shellfish gatherers and 78 fishermen, with a mean age of 36.7 years (SD = 10.5 years) and 43.3 years (SD = 11.8 years), respectively. The beginning of the labor activity was initiated at approximately 11 years of age. The average weekly income varied from 17.64 USD to 29.10 USD. The prevalence of MSD independent of occupation occurred in at least one body region in 93.5% and the presence of musculoskeletal pain/discomfort over the last seven days in 95.2% of the fishing workers. The highest prevalence of MSD was found in shellfish gatherers in: lower back (86.4%), wrist and hand (73.5%), and upper back (66.8%). In relation to the presence of pain in the last year, the frequency of pain was greater in the fishermen compared to the shellfish gatherers. The generalized severity of the MSD in 93.5% of this community of fishermen is evident, with emphasis in the following regions: lower back, wrist and hand and upper back in both groups, with occurrence of pain in more than one body region at the same time.

Highlights

Musculoskeletal disorders (MSD) have been recognized since the beginning of the18th century as a series of maladies which have occupational etiological factors in common; only after the 1970s has MSD been screened through epidemiological methods and, since been present in the international scientific literature related to work and health problems [1]
A cross-sectional study was carried out to survey the prevalence of generalized musculoskeletal disorders per body region and self-reported pain with artisanal fishermen; residents of the district of Santiago do Iguape, which belongs to the municipality of Cachoeira in the State of Bahia (Brazil)
The absence of adequate reporting in the informal labor sector [26]. This problem objecpaucity information about the presence of Brazilian health problems, especially tivelyThe shows the of reality of artisanal fishermen in the northeast, who perform and musculoskeletal pain in artisanal fishermen, can be understood, in part, by the manner their activity in limited areas, using rudimentary instruments, outside the formal econin which is performed in Brazil, which widespreador and with omy and this withactivity few resources available for their ownissubsistence forcomplex, taking care of social, mainpolitical, institutional, economic and environmental specificities intrinsic to each place

Summary

Introduction

Musculoskeletal disorders (MSD) have been recognized since the beginning of the. 18th century as a series of maladies which have occupational etiological factors in common; only after the 1970s has MSD been screened through epidemiological methods and, since been present in the international scientific literature related to work and health problems [1]. One of humanity’s oldest forms of work—that of artisanal fishing or small-scale fishing—has stood out in terms of exposure to the risks of MSD, especially because of the overburdening nature of manual labor [2], according to studies with a national focus [3,4]. In Brazil, these health problems were first described in 1973, and deemed to be the result of the excessive use of the musculoskeletal system, combined with the lack of time.

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion