Loss Of Working Days Research Articles

Types of manual materials handling (MMH) and occupational incidents and musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) in motor vehicle parts manufacturing (MVPM) industry

The motor vehicle parts manufacturing (MVPM) works include various types of manual materials handling (MMH). This study analyzes occupational incidents and musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) caused by MMH in the MVPM industry. Also, this study conducted a risk assessment for predicting the possibility and severity of the injuries and MSDs. This study examined 236 injured persons registered for occupational incidents and MSDs caused by MMH tasks. Of the 236 injuries, 124 (52.5%) were caused by lifting/lowering, followed by 92 (39.0%) pushing/pulling and 20 (8.5%) carrying. MSDs were the highest at 36.9%, followed by struck by (22.9%), caught in (19.5%), and slip/fall (9.7%) incidents. In the case of incidents, the percentage caused by pushing/pulling was the highest at 55.7%, followed by lifting/lowering (35.6%) and carrying (8.7%). However, in the case of MSDs, the percentage caused by lifting/lowering was the highest at 81.6%, followed by pushing/pulling (10.3%) and carrying (8.0%). However, the rate of severe injured with over 180 work-loss days was higher in carrying works, women, or older workers over 50 years. The highest prevalence of MSDs was low back (63.2%), followed by shoulders (17.2%), and arm/hand regions (16.1%). In risk assessment according to the work process, ‘struck by incidents during pushing/pulling carts in the logistics process’ is the most possible and the highest average of work-loss days. Relevance to industryThis study presents the overview of actual nationwide compensation records occurred during MMH tasks in the MVPM industry. Also, this study shows the outlines of occupational incidents and MSDs, and the most possible and severe incident according to the types of MMH and work process.

Work Loss in Relation to Pharmacological and Surgical Treatment for Crohn's Disease: A Population-Based Cohort Study.

PurposePatients with Crohn’s disease have increased work loss. We aimed to describe changes in work ability in relation to pharmacological and surgical treatments.Patients and MethodsWe linked data from the Swedish National Patient Register, The Swedish Quality Register for Inflammatory Bowel Disease SWIBREG, The Prescribed Drug Register, The Longitudinal Integrated Database for Health Insurance and Labour Market Studies, and the Social Insurance Database. We identified working-age (19–59 years) patients with incident Crohn’s disease 2006–2013 and population comparator subjects matched by sex, birth year, region, and education level. We assessed the number of lost workdays due to sick leave and disability pension before and after treatments.ResultsOf 3956 patients (median age 34 years, 51% women), 39% were treated with aminosalicylates, 52% with immunomodulators, 22% with TNF inhibitors, and 18% with intestinal surgery during a median follow-up of 5.3 years. Most patients had no work loss during the study period (median=0 days). For all treatments, the mean number of lost workdays increased during the months before treatment initiation, peaked during the first month of treatment and decreased thereafter, and was heavily influenced by sociodemographic factors and amount of work loss before first Crohn’s disease diagnosis. The mean increase in work loss days compared to pre-therapeutic level was ~3 days during the first month of treatment for all pharmacological therapies and 11 days for intestinal surgery. Three months after treatment initiation, 88% of patients treated surgically and 90–92% of patients treated pharmacologically had the same amount of work loss as before treatment start. Median time to return to work was 2 months for all treatments.ConclusionIn this regular clinical setting, patients treated surgically had more lost workdays than patients treated pharmacologically, but return to work was similar between all treatments.

Economic burden of lung cancer attributable to smoking in China in 2015

BackgroundLung cancer is substantially attributable to smoking, but detailed related estimates on smoking-attributable expenditure (SAE) in China are not available yet, which could inform tobacco control and cancer prevention initiatives.MethodsA...

Predictive factors for work-day loss in Behçet's syndrome: A multi-center study.

The aim of this multi-center study was to assess predictive factors for work-day loss as an indirect cost element in Behçet's syndrome (BS). In this cross-sectional, multi-center study, 834 BS patients (F/M: 441/393, age mean: 38.4±10.9years) were included. Data were collected by a questionnaire regarding treatment protocols, disease duration, smoking pattern, frequency of medical visits during the previous year and self-reported work-day loss during the previous year. Work-day loss was observed in 16.2% of patients (M/F: 103/32). The percentages of being a smoker (81.8%), using immunosuppressive (IS) medications (82%), and having disease duration <5years (74%) were higher in male patients with work-day loss (P<.05). The majority of males (90.9%) had more than four clinic visits during the previous year. Moreover, the mean work-day loss (30.8±57.7days) was higher in patients with vascular involvement (56.1±85.9) than those without (26.4±50.6days) (P=.046). In addition, increased frequency of ocular involvement (25.9%) was also observed in patients with work-day loss compared to others (8.6%) (P=.059). Work-day loss was associated with both vascular and ocular involvement. Close associations were observed among male gender, early period of the disease, frequent medical visits, being a smoker and treatment with IS medications in patients with work-day loss.

Psychological features of cadets with military professional maladjustment

The psychological characteristics of professionally maladapted cadets are considered. For signs of maladjustment were taken: performance - 3,5 points and below; physical fitness - 3 points and below; high incidence: the number of days of work loss from the beginning of the school year - 11 days or more; low discipline; poor relationship with the command and with colleagues, low psychological stability. Psychological personality traits can both contribute to the military-professional adaptation, and hinder it. Well-adapted cadets for training in a military college are characterized by a high level of stress tolerance, they are curious, have flexible thinking, they have hyperthymic characterological features. Professionally maladjusted cadets are characterized by stereotyped thinking, the prevalence of anxious and exalted character traits, the use of physical force against another person, readiness for the manifestation of negative feelings with the slightest excitement (hot temper), suspicion of relations with others, the expression of negative feelings as through form (cry , screeching), and through the content of verbal responses (curses, threats), the oppositional manner in behavior from passive resistance to active struggle From established customs and laws, they are more aggressive. Based on discriminant modeling, a highly informative forecast model of military professional maladjustment of cadets was developed as part of medical and psychological support measures (Wilks lambda: 0,29207 approx. F (4,58)=35,146; p

A comparative study on safety and efficacy of tolperisone with etodolac and thiocolchicoside with etodolac in patients of acute low back pain with musculoskeletal spasm

Background: Low back pain is one of the most common health problems in society which leads to considerable disability, loss of work days, and puts a huge burden on socioeconomic and healthcare system. It is often associated with musculoskeletal spasm. The aim of the study was to compare the efficacy and safety of tolperisone and thiocolchicoside in combination with etodolac in patients of acute low back pain associated with musculoskeletal spasm.Methods: it was a prospective, randomized, open label study which included patients of either sex between age 18-50 years of acute low back pain with musculoskeletal spasm. Patients were allocated in two groups. Patients in ‘Group A’ were given tolperisone 150 mg + etodolac 400 mg twice a day and patients in ‘Group B’ were given thiocolchicoside 4 mg + etodolac 400 mg twice a day. Efficacy of two drugs was assessed by decrease in finger to floor distance (FFD), decrease in pain as per visual analog scale (VAS) and global assessment of efficacy of treatment by physician. Follow-up of the patients was done on day 3 and 7 of treatment. Various side effects reported by patients in both the groups were also recorded and compared.Results: Both tolperisone and thiocolchicoside caused significant decrease in FFD, reduced pain score thus indicating decrease in pain and spasm. Side effects reported in both groups were mild and did not result in discontinuation of therapy.Conclusions: Tolperisone was found to have efficacy similar to that of thiocolchicoside though number of side effects reported was more with tolperisone.

Health impacts and cost-benefit analyses of surface O3 and PM2.5 over the U.S. under future climate and emission scenarios

Health impacts of surface ozone (O3) and fine particulate matter (PM2.5) are of major concern worldwide. In this work, the Environmental Benefits Mapping and Analysis Program tool is applied to estimate the health and economic impacts of projected changes in O3 and PM2.5 in the U.S. in future (2046–2055) decade relative to current (2001–2010) decade under the Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) 4.5 and 8.5 climate scenarios. Future annual-mean O3 reductions under RCP 4.5 prevent ~1,800 all-cause mortality, 761 respiratory hospital admissions (HA), and ~1.2 million school loss days annually, and result in economic benefits of ~16 billion, 29 million, and 132 million U.S. dollars (USD), respectively. By contrast, the projected future annual-mean O3 increases under RCP8.5 cause ~2,400 mortality, 941 respiratory HA, and ~1.6 million school loss days annually and result in economic disbenefits of ~21 billion, 36 million, and 175 million USD, respectively. Health benefits of reduced O3 double under RCP4.5 and health dis-benefits of increased O3 increase by 1.5 times under RCP8.5 in future with 2050 population and baseline incidence rate. Because of the reduction in projected future PM2.5 over CONUS under both scenarios, the annual avoided all-cause deaths, cardiovascular HA, respiratory HA, and work loss days are ~63,000 and ~83,000, ~5,300 and ~7,000, ~12,000 and ~15,000, and ~7.8 million and ~10 million, respectively, leading to economic benefits of ~560 and ~740 billion, ~240 and ~320 million, ~450 and ~590 million, and ~1,400 and ~1,900 million USD for RCP4.5 and 8.5, respectively. Health benefits of reduced PM2.5 for future almost double under both scenarios with the largest benefits in urban areas. RCP8.5 projects larger health and economic benefits due to a greater reduction in PM2.5 but with a warmer atmosphere and higher O3 pollution than RCP4.5. RCP4.5 leads to multiple-benefit goals including reduced O3 and PM2.5, reduced mortality and morbidity, and saved costs. Greater reduction in future PM2.5 under RCP4.5 should be considered to achieve larger multi-benefits.

QuickStats: Percentage* of Employed Adults Aged ≥18 Years with Any Work-Loss Days Because of Illness or Injury in the Past 12 Months,† by Sex and Age Group - National Health Interview Survey,§ 2017.

QuickStats: Percentage* of Employed Adults Aged ≥18 Years with Any Work-Loss Days Because of Illness or Injury in the Past 12 Months,† by Sex and Age Group - National Health Interview Survey,§ 2017.

Economic Burden of Illness Among Commercially Insured Patients with Systemic Sclerosis with Interstitial Lung Disease in the USA: A Claims Data Analysis.

IntroductionInterstitial lung disease (ILD) is a common manifestation of scleroderma/systemic sclerosis (SSc). However, the direct and indirect economic burdens of SSc-ILD remain unclear. This study assessed and compared healthcare resource utilization (HRU), direct healthcare costs, work loss, and indirect costs between patients with SSc-ILD and matched controls with neither SSc nor ILD in the USA.MethodsData were obtained from a large US commercial claims database (2005–2015). Patients (at least 18 years old) had at least one SSc diagnosis in the inpatient (IP) or emergency room (ER) setting or at least two SSc diagnoses in another setting, and at least one diagnosis of ILD in the IP or ER setting or at least two diagnoses of ILD in another setting. Controls with neither SSc nor ILD were matched 5:1 to patients with SSc-ILD. Comparisons were conducted using Wilcoxon signed-rank and McNemar’s tests and adjusted odds ratios (ORs) and incidence rate ratios (IRRs).ResultsA total of 479 SSc-ILD patients and 2395 matched controls were included (52 SSc-ILD patients and 260 matched controls for work loss and indirect cost analyses). Patients with SSc-ILD had significantly higher HRU and costs, IP admissions (adjusted IRR = 5.6), IP hospitalization days (adjusted IRR = 12.0), ER visits (adjusted IRR = 2.8), OP visits (adjusted IRR = 3.1), and days of work loss (adjusted IRR = 4.5). The adjusted difference in annual direct healthcare costs was $28,632 (SSc-ILD, $33,195; controls, $4562) and that in indirect costs was $4735 (SSc-ILD, $5640; controls, $906) (all p < 0.0001).ConclusionSSc-ILD patients had significantly higher HRU, work loss, and direct and indirect costs compared to matched controls with neither SSc nor ILD.FundingBoehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1007/s12325-019-00929-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Economic Burden among Commercially Insured Patients with Systemic Sclerosis in the United States.

To quantify healthcare resource utilization (HRU), work loss, and annual direct and indirect healthcare costs among patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc) compared to matched controls in the United States. Data were obtained from a large US commercial claims database. Patients were ≥ 18 years old at the index date (first SSc diagnosis) and had ≥ 1 SSc diagnosis in the inpatient (IP) or emergency room (ER) setting, or ≥ 2 SSc diagnoses on 2 different dates in the outpatient (OP) setting between January 1, 2005, and March 31, 2015; continuous enrollment was required during the followup period (12 months after the index date). Individuals with no SSc diagnoses were matched 1:1 to patients with SSc. Wilcoxon signed-rank and McNemar tests were used for comparisons and regressions with generalized estimating equations for adjusted OR (aOR) and incidence rate ratios (IRR) between 2 cohorts. There were 2192 pairs of patients with SSc and matched controls included (mean age 57.6 yrs; 84.3% female); of these, 233 were eligible for work loss/indirect cost analyses. Compared to matched controls, patients with SSc had significantly higher HRU and costs during the 1-year followup period, IP admissions (adjusted IRR = 2.4), IP hospitalization days (adjusted IRR = 3.1), ER visits (adjusted IRR = 2.0), OP visits (adjusted IRR = 2.3), and days of work loss (adjusted IRR = 2.6). The adjusted difference in annual direct and indirect costs was US$12,820 and $3103, respectively (all p < 0.0001). Patients with SSc had a high direct and indirect economic burden postdiagnosis.

Disability, functioning, and quality of life among treatment-seeking young autistic adults and its relation to depression, anxiety, and stress.

In this study, we consecutively recruited treatment-seeking young autistic adults without intellectual impairment aged 16-30 years who presented to a mental health service and evaluated general health (distress, quality of life, and disability), functioning (work loss days and social functioning), and mood symptoms (depression, anxiety, and stress) in those diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (n = 96). This group was compared to young adults presenting to the same service with primary mental health disorders (depression, n = 343; bipolar, n = 132; psychosis, n = 166; and anxiety, n = 303). This study also investigated the influence of mood symptoms on general health and functioning in the autism spectrum disorder group. Young autistic adults reported significant general health and functioning impairments that were of similar degree to those presenting with primary mental health disorders. Interestingly, the autistic group also reported similarly high levels of mood symptoms to those with primary depressive and anxiety disorders. In the autistic group, depressive symptoms were strongly associated with distress, quality of life, and work loss days, while stress symptoms were strongly associated with disability. This study highlights further research, and mental health services are required specifically targeting young autistic adults to address their significant unmet needs.

Return to work after early repair of acute traumatic rotator cuff tears.

Lost workdays following rotator cuff repair is not well-studied in the literature. We aimed to define the time away from work following early arthroscopic repair of acute traumatic rotator cuff tears and compare it with the recommendations of the American Medical Disability Advisor (MD Guidelines) and The Swedish Social Insurance Agency. Thirty-two consecutive working patients with a median age of 58 (42-70) years suffering from acute traumatic rotator cuff tears who underwent arthroscopic repair were prospectively studied. The studied variables were age, gender, alcohol use, smoking, number of injured tendons, dominant side involvement, work-related injury, employment status, preoperative work level, alterations of work tasks at return to work, and time away from work. 97% of the patients returned to full-duty work. The median time to return to full-duty work was 5.0 (1.1-10.5) months. Preoperative work level (p = 0.025) and dominant side (p = 0.02) significantly affected the time away from work on the univariate analysis, while GLM model showed a trend (p = 0.09) for shorter sick leave by dominant side involvement. The sick leave was longer in all three work level categories compared with the MD Guidelines and longer in the light and medium work categories compared with the recommendations by FK. According to the present study, acute traumatic rotator cuff tears cause a considerable loss of work days. However, almost all patients are expected to return to work after a median time of 5 months following arthroscopic repair. Current guidelines and recommendations regarding sick leave following repair of rotator cuff tears might have to be reviewed.

Effects of Weather Factors on the Work Loss Days of the Elderly Workers

Effects of Weather Factors on the Work Loss Days of the Elderly Workers

Impacts of prescribed fires and benefits from their reduction for air quality, health, and visibility in the Pacific Northwest of the United States

ABSTRACTUsing a WRF-SMOKE-CMAQ modeling framework, we investigate the impacts of smoke from prescribed fires on model performance, regional and loc al air quality, health impacts, and visibility in protected natural environments using three different prescribed fire emission scenarios: 100% fire, no fire, and 30% fire. The 30% fire case reflects a 70% reduction in fire activities due to harvesting of logging residues for use as a feedstock for a potential aviation biofuel supply chain. Overall model performance improves for several performance metrics when fire emissions are included, especially for organic carbon, irrespective of the model goals and criteria used. This effect on model performance is more pronounced for the rural and remote IMPROVE sites for organic carbon and total PM2.5. A reduction in prescribed fire emissions (30% fire case) results in significant improvement in air quality in areas in western Oregon, northern Idaho, and western Montana, where most prescribed fires occur. Prescribed burning contributes to visibility impairment, and a relatively large portion of protected class I areas will benefit from a reduced emission scenario. For the haziest 20% days, prescribed burning is an important source of visibility impairment, and approximately 50% of IMPROVE sites in the model domain show a significant improvement in visibility for the reduced fire case. Using BenMAP, a health impact assessment tool, we show that several hundred additional deaths, several thousand upper and lower respiratory symptom cases, several hundred bronchitis cases, and more than 35,000 workday losses can be attributed to prescribed fires, and these health impacts decrease by 25–30% when a 30% fire emission scenario is considered.Implications: This study assesses the potential regional and local air quality, public health, and visibility impacts from prescribed burning activities, as well as benefits that can be achieved by a potential reduction in emissions for a scenario where biomass is harvested for conversion to biofuel. As prescribed burning activities become more frequent, they can be more detrimental for air quality and health. Forest residue-based biofuel industry can be source of cleaner fuel with co-benefits of improved air quality, reduction in health impacts, and improved visibility.

Disability burden in patients with tenosynovial giant cell tumors in the United States from employer perspective.

92 Background: Tenosynovial giant cell tumor (TGCT) is a rare locally aggressive tumor causing pain, swelling, joint destruction, and limited mobility. This study assessed the disability burden and the associated costs in TGCT patients from an employer’s perspective. Methods: A retrospective analysis was performed using medical and disability claims from the OptumHealth database. Incident patients 18-64 years old with a diagnosis of TGCT (as identified by ICD-9: 727.02, 719.2x; ICD-10: D48.1, D21.x, M12.2) were matched 1:10 to controls without TGCT based on age, gender, index year, and follow-up duration. Patients without earning and disability data were excluded. Days of work loss due to disability claims and absenteeism associated with medical visits were compared using Poisson regression models. Costs were compared using generalized linear models. Results: A total of 1,395 eligible TGCT patients were matched with 13,950 controls without TGCT. Despite similar demographics (36% female, mean age 45-47) and only slightly higher comorbidity burden (mean Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI): 0.3 versus 0.2), TGCT patients had increased usage of analgesic drugs (44% versus 20%) and MRI tests (37% versus 3%), prior to their diagnosis, compared with controls. During follow-up, TGCT patients were more likely to have disability claims (15.1% vs. 5.6%; p &lt; 0.001), had more disability claim days (9.5 versus 2.0; p &lt; 0.001), medically related absenteeism days (9.9 versus 4.3; p &lt; 0.001), and total days of work loss (19.4 versus 6.3; p &lt; 0.001) per person-year compared with their matched controls. After adjusting for age, gender, index year and CCI score, the average annual indirect cost per person was greater for patients with TGCT than controls ($4,653 versus $1,902; p &lt; 0.001). Conclusions: In addition to the known problems of pain, limitation of mobility, and eventual joint destruction, TGCT patients had substantial indirect costs associated with increased work absenteeism and disability. These findings highlight the unmet need for more effective treatments to reduce not only the medical, but also the economic burden of TGCT.

Primary dysmenorrhea: evaluation and treatment pattern among female medical students

Background: Dysmenorrhea is a very common condition in females in fertile age group and its affective and somatic features often limit female mobility which results in loss of work hours. The aim of the study was to evaluate prevalence, severity, drug usage and loss of work days among young female medical students.Methods: The current questionnaire based study was done in Department of pharmacology, GMC Jammu over a period of 3 months. Female students aged between 17-24 years who consented for participation were included. The demographic profile and detailed history of dysmenorrhea was recorded.Results: Out of 342 participants, 218 females (63.7%) had history of dysmenorrhea. Most of the dysmenorrhic females had menarche between 13-14 yrs of age (73.3%) and menstrual cycle of 21-34 days (82.5%), duration of bleeding less than 6 days (91.6%) and had a positive family history of dysmenorrhea (58.7%). Majority of females had mild to moderate features of dysmenorrhea (93.4%). Most common medication was Mefenemic acid alone and in combination (90.5%). Most of the females took self-medication (69.8%) and only 30.2% took medicines on advice of doctor. 71.5% students missed their classes due to symptoms of dysmennorhea.Conclusions: Dysmenorrhea is quite prevalent among college going medical students. Most of them had positive family history. Mefenemic acid and its combination was frequently used to treat symptoms. On an average 1-2days were lost due to dysmenorrhea.

Comparative Effectiveness of Coalitions Versus Technical Assistance for Depression Quality Improvement in Persons with Multiple Chronic Conditions.

Prior research suggests that Community Engagement and Planning (CEP) for coalition support compared with Resources for Services (RS) for program technical assistance to implement depression quality improvement programs improves 6- and 12-month client mental-health related quality of life (MHRQL); however, effects for clients with multiple chronic medical conditions (MCC) are unknown. To explore effectiveness of CEP vs RS in MCC and non-MCC subgroups. Secondary analyses of a cluster-randomized trial. 93 health care and community-based programs in two neighborhoods. Of 4,440 clients screened, 1,322 depressed (Patient Health Questionnaire, PHQ8) provided contact information, 1,246 enrolled and 1,018 (548 with ≥3 MCC) completed baseline, 6- or 12-month surveys. CEP or RS for implementing depression quality improvement programs. Primary: depression (PHQ9 <10), poor MHRQL (Short Form Health Survey, SF-12<40); Secondary: mental wellness, good physical health, behavioral health hospitalization, chronic homelessness risk, work/workloss days, services use at 6 and 12 months. End-point regressions were used to estimate intervention effects on outcomes for subgroups with ≥3 MCC, non-MCC, and intervention-by-MCC interactions (exploratory). Among MCC clients at 6 months, CEP vs RS lowered likelihoods of depression and poor MHRQL; increased likelihood of mental wellness; reduced work-loss days among employed and likelihoods of ≥4 behavioral-health hospitalization nights and chronic homelessness risk, while increasing faith-based and park community center depression services; and at 12 months, likelihood of good physical health and park community center depression services use (each P<.05). There were no significant interactions or primary outcome effects for non-MCC. CEP was more effective than RS in improving 6-month primary outcomes among depressed MCC clients, without significant interactions.

A Charter to Improve Patient Care in Severe Asthma.

Severe asthma is a subtype of asthma that is difficult to treat and control. By conservative estimates, severe asthma affects approximately 5–10% of patients with asthma worldwide. Severe asthma impairs patients’ health-related quality of life, and patients are at risk of life-threatening asthma attacks. Severe asthma also accounts for the majority of health care expenditures associated with asthma. Guidelines recommend that patients with severe asthma be referred to a specialist respiratory team for correct diagnosis and expert management. This is particularly important to ensure that they have access to newly available biologic treatments. However, many patients with severe asthma can suffer multiple asthma attacks and wait several years before they are referred for specialist care. As global patient advocates, we believe it is essential to raise awareness and understanding for patients, caregivers, health care professionals, and the public about the substantial impact of severe asthma and to create opportunities for improving patient care. Patients should be empowered to live a life free of symptoms and the adverse effects of traditional medications (e.g., oral corticosteroids), reducing hospital visits and emergency care, the loss of school and work days, and the constraints placed on their daily lives. Here we provide a Patient Charter for severe asthma, consisting of six core principles, to mobilize national governments, health care providers, payer policymakers, lung health industry partners, and patients/caregivers to address the unmet need and burden in severe asthma and ultimately work together to deliver meaningful improvements in care.Funding: AstraZeneca.

Musculoskeletal disorder: Risk factors and coping strategies among nurses

Background: It is established that nurses suffer from varying degrees of Musculoskeletal Disorders (MSD) at different regions of their body, which results in frequent loss of work days. Aim of study is to identify the risk factors for developing musculoskeletal disorder and to determine the coping strategies to reduce their frequency.Methods: This study was conducted in the Outpatient Departments (OPDs), intensive care units of University Hospital and also from the nursing schoolof the Faculty of Nursing, Alexandria, Egypt.Results: A high proportion of nurses reported MSD (99.0%) during the last year. Also during their whole careers at one or the other body regions, with the shoulder (97.0%) and Neck (95.0%) being the most commonly affected. Nurses with more than two pregnancies and usage of computer for more than two years were those with the most perceived risk factors for MSD. The usage of different part of body by the nurses as a coping mechanism during the nursing procedures (34.0%) and change of posture (30.0%) were the top two statistically significant coping strategies.Conclusions: The study confirms very high prevalence of MSD among the nursing staff and it was prominent at some specific body parts, of which neck and shoulder were the most affected.

Borderline personality symptoms and work performance: a population-based survey

BackgroundThis study aims to elucidate the interplay between borderline personality symptoms and working conditions as a pathway for impaired work performance among workers in the general population.MethodsCross-sectional data from the Netherlands Mental Health Survey and Incidence Study-2 (NEMESIS-2) were used, including 3672 workers. Borderline personality symptoms were measured with the International Personality Disorder Examination (IPDE) questionnaire. Working conditions (decision latitude, psychological job demands, job security and co-worker support) were assessed with the Job Content Questionnaire (JCQ). Impaired work performance was assessed as total work loss days per month, defined as the sum of days of three types of impaired work performance (inability to work, cut-down to work, and diminished quality at work). These were assessed with the WHO Disability Assessment Schedule (WHO-DAS). Common mental disorders (CMD) were assessed with the Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI).ResultsNumber of borderline personality symptoms was consistently associated with impaired work performance, even after controlling for type or number of adverse working conditions and co-occurrence of CMD. Borderline personality symptoms were associated with low decision latitude, job insecurity and low co-worker support. The relationship between borderline personality symptoms and work performance diminished slightly after controlling for type or number of working conditions.ConclusionsThe current study shows that having borderline personality symptoms is a unique determinant of work performance. This association seems partially explained through the impact of borderline personality symptoms on working conditions. Future studies are warranted to study causality and should aim at diminishing borderline personality symptoms and coping with working conditions.