Abstract
Studies have reported that neck and/or shoulder pain (NSP) was prevalent and a non-ignorable occupational health problem in healthcare providers. Considering data deficiency on NSP, we aimed to investigate the prevalence and sick leave absence of NSP among public hospital workers in Shandong, China and to explore the associated factors for chronic NSP. A self-administered questionnaire including the Dutch Musculoskeletal Questionnaire and Modified Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire was filled in by 30,520 hospital workers in 37 hospitals selected randomly from among all public hospitals of Shandong, China. The 12-month prevalence of NSP lasting for at least 3 months and sick leave absence due to NSP among 29,547 public hospital workers was 15.6% and 11.4%, respectively, most frequently reported in tertiary hospital workers (27.4% and 18.9%) and clinicians (19.1% and 15.2%). Log-binomial regression analysis revealed that chronic NSP was significantly associated with hospital level, employment position, contract/temporary employment status (vs. permanent), workload (long work hours per week), ergonomic factors (bending the neck forward for long periods of time, twisting the neck for long periods of time) and computer-related factors (prolonged computer-using time daily, the keyboard too close to the edge of the desk).
Highlights
Studies have reported that neck and/or shoulder pain (NSP) was prevalent and a non-ignorable occupational health problem in healthcare providers
We aimed to explore the prevalence of NSP and sick leave absence due to NSP among public hospital workers and to compare the differences between different hospital-level workers and between different work positions including clinicians, nurses, other healthcare technicians, and managers and support staff
In this study we found that the prevalence of various types of NSP, including chronic NSP and sick leave absence due to NSP, among public hospital workers was quite common, most frequently reported in tertiary hospital workers and clinicians
Summary
Studies have reported that neck and/or shoulder pain (NSP) was prevalent and a non-ignorable occupational health problem in healthcare providers. 24 h in the past 12 months was reported to be 52.1% and 47.6%, respectively, among 14,720 healthcare professionals from eight tertiary hospitals[4] These studies were either centered on subgroups of hospital workers12–14or only included workers in tertiary-level public hospitals[4]. Several studies[20,21,22] have reported computer work as an associated factor for MSDs. In a study conducted in Beijing, C hina[23], the prevalence of work-related MSDs of the neck and shoulder among 720 office workers using a computer as a main working tool was reported to be 55.5% and 50.7%, respectively. To what extent, workload, computer using and ergonomic factors contribute to chronic NSP among Chinese public hospital workers still remains to be illuminated
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