Relationships between work-related factors and musculoskeletal health with current and future work ability among male workers

J S Boschman,A Noor,J K Sluiter,R Lundström,M Hagberg,T Nilsson

doi:10.1007/s00420-017-1216-0

J S Boschman, A Noor + Show 4 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1007/s00420-017-1216-0

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Abstract

PurposeThe purpose was to increase job-specific knowledge about individual and work-related factors and their relationship with current and future work ability (WA). We studied cross-sectional relationships between mental demands, physical exertion during work, grip strength, musculoskeletal pain in the upper extremities and WA and the relationships between these variables and WA 11 years later.MethodsWe used a dataset of a prospective cohort study (1997–2008) among employees of an engineering plant (n = 157). The cohort was surveyed by means of tests and written questions on work demands, musculoskeletal health, WA score (WAS; 0–10), and mental and physical WA. Spearman correlation coefficients and logistic regression analysis were used.ResultsAmong manual workers, we found weak correlations between grip strength and current and future physical WA. We did not find predictors for future poor WA among the manual workers. Among the office workers, we found that musculoskeletal pain was moderately and negatively related to current WAS and physical WA. More handgrip strength related to better future WAS and physical WA. Musculoskeletal pain (OR 1.67 p < 0.01) and lower handgrip strength (OR 0.91 p < 0.05) predicted future poor WA among office workers.ConclusionsOur results showed cross-sectional and longitudinal relationships between musculoskeletal health and work ability depending on occupation. However, the present implies that predicting work ability in the far future based on health surveillance data is rather difficult. Testing the musculoskeletal system (grip strength) and asking workers’ about their musculoskeletal health seems relevant when monitoring work ability.

Highlights

The concept of sustainable employability and work ability has gained growing attention over the years
None of the office workers reported a WA score (WAS) of five or lower, and among the manual workers this only applied to eight workers (4%)
We found that musculoskeletal pain in the upper extremities in both 1997 [prevalence ratios (PR) 1.67] and 2008 [PR 2.06] was associated with poor WAS in 2008 (Tables 4, 5)

Summary

Introduction

The concept of sustainable employability and work ability has gained growing attention over the years (van der Klink et al 2016). Preventing health-related job loss, that is ensuring job retention, is considered an increasingly important outcome in occupational health research (Viikari-Juntura and Burdorf 2011). This is because consistently low birth rates and higher life expectancy are causing a transition towards a much older population structure (Eurostat 2015; WHO 2011). Work-related factors that are associated with poor work ability include high mental work demands, lack of autonomy and high physical work load (van den Berg et al 2009). Individual factors related to poor work ability include musculoskeletal pain (Lindegard et al 2014), poor musculoskeletal capacity (van den Berg et al 2009) and older age (van den Berg et al 2009). Two cross-sectional studies reported lower handgrip strength to be associated with lower work ability especially in workers exposed to hand–arm vibration (Edlund et al 2012; Rentzsch et al 2015)

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